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LIFE AND LETTERS 

OF 

Samuel Holden Parsons 

MAJOR GENERAL IN THE CONTINENTAL 

ARMY AND CHIEF JUDGE OF THE 

NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY 

1737 — 1789 



BY 

CHARLES S. HALL 



^ 



BINGHAMTON, N. Y. 
OTSENINGO PUBLISHING CO. 

1905 



ulBNARY ot OONSKCSS 
)wu Copies rftxtxvcu 

JUL 18 1905 

/tLASi CI AAC IHw 

copf b. 

I ^~- ■■ ■' 






Copyright, 1905, 
By Charles S. Hall 



PRINTED BY 

HERALD COMPANY OF BINGHAMTON 

BINGHA51TON, N. Y. 



c 



I- 



IN MEMORIAM 

SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 

Soldier, scholar, judge, one of the strongest arms 
on which Washington leaned, who first suggested 
the Continental Congress, from the stoiy of whose 
life could almost be written the history of the 
Northern War." — Senator Geo. F. Hoar. 



PREFACE 



A considerable part of the correspondence of General Parsons 
during and before the Revolutionary War and while in the 
Northwestern Territory, together with valuable official papers, 
was lost by the burning of the building in Middletown in which 
they were stored. A grandson and namesake of the General, 
noted as an antiquarian, genealogist and historian, procured 
duplicates of the lost papers, so far as he was able, intending to 
publish a biography of the General ; but ill-health unfortu- 
nately forced him to abandon the undertaking for which he was 
unusually well equipped. The papers preserved by him, and 
the remnants of the General's letters — many of them having 
fallen into the hands of collectors — were inherited by a great- 
grandson of the General, Samuel H. Parsons of New York, 
who still has them in his possession. Among them are the Gen- 
eral's Letter Book and the Order Book of his Adjutant, David 
Humphreys. Having access to this collection through the 
courtesy of Mr. Parsons, and to the Washington Papers by 
favor of the librarian of the State Department, and having for 
another purpose already collected much valuable material relat- 
ing to the General's life and public services, the writer was led 
to take up the work laid down by the General's grandson. This 
volume is the outcome of the undertaking. The letters and 
documents of which this work is largely made up are most of 
them given in full, and, having been arranged chronologically, 
furnish, with the intermediate text, a complete and continuous 
story of the General's life. 

Among these papers are: Parsons' letter to Samuel Adams 
in 1773, first suggesting a Continental Congress ; the account 
of his setting on foot the expedition against Ticonderoga, 
which " gave to Connecticut the honor of compelling the first 
surrender of the British flag to the coming republic " ; his 



viii PREFACE 

spirited correspondence with Governor Tryon in 1777, which 
Tryon deemed important enough to send to Lord George 
Germain ; his remarkable and ahiiost prophetic letter of Decem- 
ber, 1778, to his classmate, the Rev. Dr. William Walter, then 
a refugee in New York; his letter of August, 1779, to Colonel 
Root in Congress, discussing the effect on the country of the 
depreciation of the currency ; the account of his observations 
and discoveries in the West while there to treat with the Sha- 
wanese Indians ; his memorial to Congress in 1787 for the 
sale of lands on the Ohio to the Ohio Company, thereby enabling 
Revolutionary soldiers to exchange their almost worthless pay- 
certificates for homes in the West ; the Thanksgiving Sermon 
which, in the absence of a clergyman, he preached at INIarietta 
in December, 1788, being the first thanksgiving sermon preached 
in the Northwestern Territory ; and several letters giving par- 
ticulars, hitherto unknown, of the General's sad death and of his 
burial on the banks of the Ohio. 

It is much to be regretted that, although careful search has 
been made for a portrait of the General, none can be found. 
If any ever existed it probably has been destroyed. 

To Mr. Parsons, to the librarians of the State Department at 
Washington, of the State library at Albany, of the Astor and 
Lenox libraries in New York, of the Boston and the other 
libraries where I have had occasion to search, and to my many 
correspondents, I avail myself of this opportunity to make 
due acknowledgments for valuable assistance ever courteously 
rendered. 

C. S. H. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

1775—1783 

The days after Lexington and Concord. The organization and officers of 

the Connecticut Line 1 



CHAPTER n 

The Parsons lineage and family connections 8 

CHAPTER HI 

Parsons graduates at Harvard and studies law. The French and Indian 

war and the events between 1762 and 1775 13 

CHAPTER IV 

1762—1775 

Parsons a member of the Connecticut General Assembly and of the Com- 
mittee of Correspondence. Is the first to suggest a Congress of all 
the Colonies. Capture of Ticonderoga 18 

CHAPTER V 

April, 1775— March, 1776 
Siege of Boston. Reorganization of the Army. March to New York . 28 

CHAPTER VI 

April — September, 1776 

The army in New York. The Hickey plot. Arrival of General Howe. 
Parsons promoted brigadier general. Sent to reinforce the Brook- 
lyn lines. The British prepare to attack 39 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VII 

August, 1776 
The battle of Long Island. Retreat to New York 50 

CHAPTER VIII 

September, 1776 

Bushnell's torpedo. Kip's Bay affair. Retreat from New York. Bat- 
tle of Harlem Heights 59 

CHAPTER IX 

September, 1776 — February, 1777 

Battle of White Plains. Parsons holds extreme left of line at Rye Pond. 
Marches to attack General Agnew. In the Highlands and New 
Jersey. Expedition with Clinton. Returns to Peekskill. Battles 
of Trenton and Princeton. Commands the left in Heath's attack 
on New York 71 

CHAPTER X 

January — June, 1777 

Recruiting the Connecticut Line. Inoculation of the troops. Tryon's 
raid on Danbury. Death of Wooster. Correspondence with Wash- 
ington. Meigs' expedition to Sag Harbor 85 

CHAPTER XI 

December, 1787 — December, 1788 

Campaign of 1777. Parsons reinforces Washington in New Jersey. 
Letter to his wife. Burgoyne's movement. Parsons ordered to the 
defense of the Highlands. His expedition to Setauket. Brandy- 
wine and Germantown. Surrender of Burgoyne 101 

CHAPTER XII 

September — December, 1777 

Parsons at White Plains. Putnam plans to attack New York, Clinton 
reinforced, attempts to relieve Burgoyne. Captures the Posts on 
the Hudson. Parsons forwards reinforcements from Connecticut. 
James DeLancey a prisoner. Tryon burns Phillips Manor. The 
Parsons-Try on correspondence 113 



CONTENTS xi 

CHAPTER XIII 

October, 1777— April, 1778 

Parsons' expedition to Long Island. In command at West Point. Cor- 
respondence with Governor Clinton. Letter to Sir Henry Clinton . 133 

CHAPTER XIV 

January — March, 1778 

At West Point. Difficulties encountered in constructing the Works. 
Correspondence with Washington. Social life. Dwight's " Con- 
quest of Canaan." 151 

CHAPTER XV 

March — August, 1788 

At West Point. Correspondence with Generals McDougall and Gates. 
Arrest of Oliver DeLancey. Letter to Dr. William Walter. Par- 
sons joins Washington's Army at White Plains 166 

CHAPTER XVI 

June, 1778— March, 1779 

Treaty with France. Evacuation of Philadelphia. Army at White 
Plains. Arrival of D'Estaing. Camp at Fredericksburgh. Par- 
sons' military opinions. Camp at Redding 187 

CHAPTER XVII 

February — June, 1779 

Parsons in command at New London. Correspondence with Washington 
and Greene. The right of private warfare. Returns to Redding. 
Commands the Division. The march to the Highlands .... ;217 

CHAPTER XVIII 

May — December, 1779 

Clinton's expedition up the Hudson. Trvon's raid on New Haven, Fair- 
field and Norwalk. Wayne retakes Stony Point. Sullivan's 
expedition against the Six Nations. Parsons succeeds Putnam in 
the command of the Connecticut Division 545 



xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XIX 

December, 1779 — July, 1780 

Winter quarters at Morristown. The spy system of the Revohition. 
" Midshipman Billy." Parsons asks Congress to accept his resigna- 
tion. His estate. Supervises recruiting in Connecticut. Condition 
of the army 272 

CHAPTER XX 

July — October, 1780 

The summer of 1780. Arrival of Ternay and Rochambeau. Arnold in 
command at West Point. His treason. Heron delivers to Par- 
sons Arnold's letter to Andre. Parsons' ill-health 296 

CHAPTER XXI 

October, 1780— May, 1781 

Parsons' promotion as Major General. ^Mutiny of the Pennsylvania and 
Jersey Lines. Morrisania expedition. Receives thanks of Congress. 
Fairfield investigation. His dangerous illness. Yale and Harvard 
confer upon him a Master's degree 317 

CHAPTER XXII 

June — October, 1781 

The march of the French army through Connecticut. Junction of the 
two armies on the Hudson. Failure of the attempt on New York. 
Letters of Washington, Parsons, and Trumbull. Reconnaisance in 
force. Abandonment of the siege. . The Allies move to Virginia. 
Surrender of Cornwallis » . . . 361 

CHAPTER XXIII 

August. 1781— July, 1782 

Heath commands in the Highlands. Parsons takes charge of the defense 
of Connecticut. Prepares to attack Lloyd's Neck. Heath fails to 
support him. The Connecticut troops winter in the Highlands. 
As to disabled officers. Parsons" farewell address to his troops. 
Resigns his commission as Major General 394 

' CHAPTER XXIV 



William Heron of Redding and Sir Henry Clinton's " Secret Serv- 
ice Record " 418 



CONTEXTS xiii 

CHAPTER XXV 

July, 1782— October, X786 

Shay's Rebellion. Letters to Johnson. Appointed Commissioner to treat 
with the Shawanese. Journey to the Miami. Visits the Falls of the 
Ohio. Negotiations with the Indians. Treaty concluded February 
first. Terms of the treaty. Letter to President Willard giving an 
account of his observations and discoveries in the Ohio country . . 461 

CHAPTER XXVI 

January, 1786 — April, 1789 

The Ohio Company. Parsons presents memorial to Congress for the 
purchase of lands in Ohio. Bill authorizing sale to Company. 
Ordinance of 1787. Organization of the Northwest Territory. 
Parsons appointed Chief Judge. Ratification of the Federal Con- 
stitution and organization of the government 495 

CHAPTER XXVII 

December, 1787 — December, 1788 

Settlement of Ohio. Letters to General Washington and Dr. Cutler. 
Arrival of St. Clair, Parsons and Varnum and the establishment of 
civil government in the Territory. They prepare a code of laws. 
Celebration of the Fourth of July. Parsons' Thanksgiving sermon. 
The importance of the new settlement . . . ." 515 

CHAPTER XXVIII 



The Connecticut Reserve. Parsons appointed to survey it. Forms 
syndicate to buy lands in. At Philadelphia for the Ohio Company. 
Returning, visits Gen. Gates. Chief Justice Ellsworth. Thirteenth 
anniversary of Independence celebrated at Marietta. Appointed 
to treat with the Indians on the Reserve. Goes to Lake Erie to 
complete the surveys. Returning, is drowned in Great Beaver 
Creek. Body found and buried; afterwards removed to New 
Brighton. Letters from Gen. Butler and Lieut. McDowell. Par- 
sons' family. His career and character 548 



Life and Letters of 
General Samuel Holden Parsons 



CHAPTER I 

The Days After Lexington and Concord. The Organization 
AND Officers of the Connecticut Line. 



The fighting at Lexington and Concord was still in progress 
when the Massachusetts Committee of Safety at Watertown 
sent out " horse expresses charged to alarm the country quite 
down to Connecticut." It was not long after the noon of 
Thursday, the 20th of April, 1775, that the news reached 
Jonathan Trumbull, the War Governor of Connecticut, at his 
home in Lebanon, and not man}' hours after this before he had 
issued his Proclamation convening the General Assembly in 
special session at Hartford the following Wednesday, April 
26th. At this session, which lasted ten days, an Act was passed 
providing for the enlistment and equipment of one-fourth of the 
militia, about six thousand men, to be distributed into six 
regiments of ten companies each, with a full complement of 
field, staff and line officers, and to serve for seven months. This 
force was to be coir.manded by one major general and two 
brigadier generals. All the officers were appointed by the 
Assembly. David Wooster was made major general and colonel 
of the First Regiment ; Joseph Spencer and Israel Putnam 
were made brigadier generals and colonels, respectively, of the 
Second and Third Regiments; and Benjamin Hinman. David 
Waterbury and Samuel Holden Parsons were made colonels in 
the order named of the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Regiments and 
also captains, each of the first company of his regiment. This 
peculiar arrangement extended to the lieutenant colonels and 



2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

majors, who were made captains of the second and third com- 
panies of their respective regiments. In July two more regi- 
ments were raised, to be commanded by Colonels Charles Webb 
and Jedidiah Huntington, making eight regiments in all, con- 
sisting of seventy-four hundred men and including all who 
served that year outside the limits of the State. Of these 
eight regiments, the five under Spencer, Putnam, Parsons, 
Webb and Huntington, were ordered to the Boston camps under 
Washington, while the remaining three under Wooster, Hin- 
man and Waterbury, were sent to the Northern Department. 
These regiments up to this point were State troops, not militia, 
but volunteer regiments enlisted by the State from the militia 
for a special purpose ; but in July following, the entire force 
was placed upon a Continental Establishment and, as Wash- 
ington expressed it, became the " troops of the United Prov- 
inces of North America." These troops were the " regulars " 
of the Revolution, " Continentals," as they were called, and 
formed the main army in the field and the chief dependence of 
the Colonial cause. These eight regiments were the beginning 
of what later on was known as the " Connecticut Line." 

The militia of Connecticut averaged during the war about 
twenty-three thousand men, and was divided into twenty-eight 
regiments of infantry and five regiments of light horse. These 
organizations were frequently called out to assist in emergencies 
and furnished the levies made from time to time for special serv- 
ice, as for " Coast Guards," when they were known as State 
troops. 

The terms of enlistment of most of the regiments called out 
in 1775 expiring in December of that year, Congress early in 
the autumn prepared to organize a new army for the year 1776. 
After consultation it was determined to raise, exclusive of 
riflemen and artillery, twenty-six regiments of foot of eight 
companies each, to serve until January 1, 1777. The quota 
for Connecticut was five regiments. The twenty-six regiments 
were numbered consecutively without regard to the State from 
which they were enlisted. In the readjustment. Parsons' regi- 
ment became the 10th Continental Foot; Huntington's the 
17th; Webb's the 19th; Benedict Arnold's (formerly Put- 
nam's) the 20th and Wyllys' (formerly Spencer's) the 22d. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 3 

These regiments remained before Boston until its evacuation by 
the British, when they marched to New York. Early in 1776, 
Congress authorized two additional regiments under Burrall 
and Elmore to serve in the Northern Department, and another 
in May under Ward, to serve in New York. 

The experience of the first two years of the war had made 
it obvious that in order to provide a well-drilled and disciplined 
army, able to cope with British regulars, the enlistments must be 
for a longer term. Accordingly, Congress provided for the 
raising of eighty-eight regiments of eight companies each, to 
serve for three years or during the war. The Connecticut 
quota under this call was eight regiments. Instead of being 
numbered consecutively as under the organization of 1776, the 
regiments of each State were numbered by themselves and 
spoken of as the " Massachusetts Line," or the " Connecticut 
Line," each being a distinct body, commanded by its own 
officers and cared for by its own State as well as by Congress. 
These State Lines as a body formed the " Continental Line," 
or the regular army of the United Colonies. This change in 
the organization from that of the previous year, was a surface 
indication of the jealousy of the central government felt by the 
States- — a jealousy by no means allayed by the prodigality with 
which Congress distributed commissions to foreign adventurers, 
thereby preventing the due promotion of meritorious American 
officers. The new organization was to date from January 1, 
1777. The Connecticut troops were divided into two brigades 
of four regiments each. The First Brigade, composed of the 
3d, -Ith, 6th and 8th Regiments, was placed under the command 
of General Samuel Holdcn Parsons, and the Second, composed 
of the 1st, 2d, 5th and 7th Regiments, was given to General 
Jedidiah Huntington. 

In October, 1780, Congress provided for a reorganization 
of the army, reducing the number of regiments, but increasing 
the complement of each, so that the number of men in the field 
should remain the same. The Connecticut quota was thus 
reduced from eight regiments to five. The effect of the con- 
solidation was to retire many officers, but it increased the 
efficiency of the regiments. A new formation went into effect 
January 11, 1783. The five Connecticut regiments were 



4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

reduced to three, forming a single brigade under the command 
of General Huntington. In the early summer the greater part 
of the troops were disbanded and a single Connecticut regiment 
only, under the command of Colonel Swift, was retained until 
December, when its discharge was ordered ; and thus disap- 
peared the last of the Connecticut Line of the Revolutionary 
Army. 

During the whole war but six general officers in the Con- 
tinental or regular army were appointed from the State of Con- 
necticut. The first three appointments were made from the 
veterans of the French and Indian War, the school in which 
many of our best officers had acquired their military experience. 
Israel Putnam of Pomfret, who had served as major and lieu- 
tenant colonel, and was the senior officer present in command 
at Bunker Hill, was made major general, June 19, 1775, super- 
seding Wooster and Spencer, both of whom were his seniors 
in age and command. He was at this time fifty-seven years old. 
David Wooster of New Haven, who had served as colonel, and 
Joseph Spencer of East Haddam, who had been a major and 
lieutenant colonel, were made brigadier generals, June 22, 
1775. Wooster at this time was sixty-five and Spencer sixty- 
one. Neither of these officers served till the close of the war. 
Wooster was ordered to the Northern Department and served 
with Montgomery through the disastrous campaign in Canada. 
Upon his return to Connecticut, he was given the command of 
the militia stationed on the Westchester border. During the 
Tryon-Danbury raid, he fell, mortally wounded, while rallying 
his men, and died. May 2, 1777. Spencer, during the siege of 
Boston, commanded a brigade composed of the regiments of 
Parsons, Huntington, Wyllys and Charles Webb, and accom- 
panied it when, with the rest of the army, it marched to New 
York. August 9, 1776, just previous to the battle of Long 
Island, he was promoted to the rank of major general and 
given the command of a division composed of Parsons' and 
Wadsworth's brigades, the first Continentals and the latter 
militia. He remained with the army after the retreat to White 
Plains until December of that year, when he was ordered to take 
command of the troops in Rhode Island. An attack on New- 
port planned by him miscarried, and an investigation having 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 5 

been ordered by Congress after he had been exonerated by a 
court-martial, he resigned his commission in December, 1777, 
and it was accepted in the January following. Putnam by 
virtue of his seniority commanded the Connecticut Division, but 
he was much of the time with the main army under Washington 
where he exercised a more general command. In 1776 he served 
in New Jersey. In 1777 he was stationed in the Highlands, 
charged with guarding West Point and the shores of the 
Sound. In 1778 he was assigned to the command of the Vir- 
ginia Line, and in 1779 commanded the right wing of the army 
west of the Hudson. In December of this year he was stricken 
with paralysis and incapacitated for farther service. Benedict 
Arnold of New Haven, the youngest of all the appointees of 
Congress from Connecticut — being at this time but thirty-six 
years old — and perhaps the best fighter, was made brigadier 
general January 10, 1776, and major general. May 2, 1777. 
His principal and most conspicuous service was in Canada 
and the Northern Department, but the unusually brilliant 
record then made was completely effaced by his treason of Sep- 
tember, 1780, and his villainous conduct during the rest of the 
war. By order of Congress, October 4, 1780, his name was 
stricken from the rolls. Samuel Holden Parsons of New Lon- 
don, colonel of the 6th Connecticut in 1775 and afterwards of 
the 10th Continental, and senior colonel in the Connecticut Line, 
was appointed brigadier general, August 9, 1776, to succeed 
Spencer, appointed major general the same day. Parsons was 
assigned to the command of the First Brigade, which, with 
Wadsworth's, formed Spencer's Division. At this time he was 
thirty-nine years old. October 23, 1780, after Putnam had 
been incapacitated, he was appointed major general and became 
of right, as for a year and a half previous he had been in fact, 
the commander of the Connecticut Division. Parsons remained 
in command until June 1782, when he was compelled by ill 
health to resign his commission, the acceptance of which was 
delayed by Congress until the 22d of July. Jedidiah Hunting- 
ton of Norwich, who in 1777 was Colonel of the First Con- 
necticut and senior colonel in the Division, was appointed 
brigadier general May 12, 1777, and assigned to the command 
of the Second Brigade. Upon the promotion of General Par- 



6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

sons in 1780, he succeeded to the command of the First Brigade, 
which he continued to command until the disbandment of the 
army in 1783. At the time Parsons was made major general, 
Huntington and himself were the only general officers remaining 
in the Connecticut Line, although Putnam was still carried on 
the rolls ; and upon Parsons' resignation, Huntington became 
the senior officer in the State. 

Of these six officers, three were college men. Wooster 
graduated at Yale in the class of 1738. Parsons and Hunting- 
ton both graduated at Harvard, Parsons in the class of 1756 
and Huntington in the class of 1763, and both received 
honorary degrees from Yale. Wooster served as a general 
officer nearly two years ; Spencer two years and six months ; 
Putnam and Arnold each nearly four and one half years ; Hunt- 
ington six years, and Parsons four years as a colonel and 
brigadier and two years as major general. 

Reviewing the careers of these men, no one of them seems to 
have been so largely and intimately connected with the affairs 
and interests of Connecticut as was General Parsons through- 
out the whole of his active hfe. A member of the General 
Assembly at twenty-five and re-elected for twelve successive 
years ; one of a committee composed of the ablest men in his 
State created to assist Governor Trumbull in prosecuting the 
claims of Connecticut under her Charter to lands in Pennsyl- 
vania ; one of the Standing Committee of Correspondence and 
Inquiry by appointment of the Assembly ; a member of the Con- 
vention in his State which ratified the Federal Constitution ; 
one of a Commission to extinguish by treaty the Indian titles 
to the Connecticut Reserve, he was ever active and energetic in 
the discharge of his public duties, and rendered valuable and 
faithful service to his State. Zealous in the cause of the 
Colonies, he was the instigator and promoter of many of the 
measures which led to the Revolution. He was the first to 
suggest a General Congress of the Colonies, and with a few 
friends raised the money for and set on foot as a Connecticut 
enterprise, the expedition which captured Ticonderoga. During 
his service in the army, the responsibility of recruiting, organiz- 
ing and maintaining the Connecticut Line, and of protecting 
the State against invasion, devolved largely upon him; and 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 7 

after the war terminated, and the soldiers had returned impov- 
erished to their homes, it was he who, with Rufus Putnam and 
Manasseh Cutler, conceived and carried through the project 
of the Ohio Land Company, thus providing a way by which 
the officers and soldiers of the Connecticut Line could convert 
their almost worthless pay-certificates into farms, and secure 
for themselves homes in their declining years. The record of 
Parsons' life forms an important part of the history of his 
native State. 



CHAPTER II 

The Parsons Lineage and Family Connections. 

Samuel Holden Parsons, major general in the Continental 
army, was born at Lyme, Connecticut, May 14, 1737. The first 
of his family and name in this country was his great-grand- 
father, Benjamin Parsons, born in England and baptized in the 
church in Sanford, March 17, 1627-8. The grandfather and 
father of Benjamin were Thomas and Hugh Parsons, both 
country gentlemen of Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. 
Upon coming to America, Benjamin settled in Springfield, 
Mass., some time before 1651, where he became a prominent and 
influential citizen, a deacon in the church and was elected to 
many town offices which he administered with ability. His 
son. Deacon Ebenezer Parsons, the grandfather of the General, 
was born at Springfield Nov. 17, 1668, and died there at the 
age of eighty-four years. Jonathan Parsons, his youngest son, 
and the father of the General, was born at West Springfield, 
Mass., November 30, 1705, graduated at Yale College in 1729, 
studied theology under the President, the Rev. Elisha Williams, 
and afterwards with the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, and was 
ordained Pastor of the Congregational Church at Lyme, March 
17, 1731, when but little more than twenty-five years old. 
Among the members of his congregation were Judge John Gris- 
wold, one of the wealthiest men in the town and the owner of 
" Black Hall," the family seat of the Griswolds, its beautiful 
grounds bordering the Sound just east of the mouth of the 
Connecticut ; his son, Matthew, then a boy of seventeen, but some 
years later the Governor of the State ; his daughter, Phebe, not 
yet quite sixteen, " bright, witty and vivacious," and her " dash- 
ing sisters, so given to all manner of outdoor sports as to be 
known as the ' Black Hall Boys.' " To this fun-loving family 
the young minister was strongly attracted, so strongly, indeed, 
that in the following December, Phebe became his wife. 

8 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 9 

This marriage may not have been for Parsons himself " the 
tide which taken at its flood leads on to fortune," but it cer- 
tainly had a very positive and determining influence upon the 
fortunes of his son, Samuel Holden, by placing him in an en- 
vironment which ensured his early and rapid advancement. 
From the earliest days of the Colony there had been a few lead- 
ing families to whose wisdom and public spirit the government 
of the Colony and State had been chiefly intrusted. Able, edu- 
cated, of high character and social prestige, the Colonists 
looked to them as best fitted to manage aff^airs. Accustomed to 
a governing class, they had no more feeling of envy or jealousy 
in committing to them the care of the public interests, than they 
had in intrusting matters in litigation to those learned in the 
law. 

Having been tried and found capable and faithful, these 
families, by the voluntary and repeated acts of the people them- 
selves, became as truly "hereditary legislators " (for there was 
little rotation in office) as though to the purple born; and the 
same deference and respect was accorded them which they 
had customarily shown to the same class in their English 
homes. 

Of this class there were no more notable examples in Con- 
necticut than the Griswolds and Wolcotts. Henry Wolcott 
was a country gentleman of Tolland, Somersetshire, and heir to 
the Manor of Galdon. He emigrated with the Dorchester Com- 
pany in 1630, and in 1636 removed to Windsor, Connecticut. 
Preparatory to leaving England, he sold property to the 
amount of eight thousand pounds and brought over with him a 
large sum of money. He was made a member of the first 
General Court of Massachusetts, a deputy to the General Court 
of Connecticut in 1637, and in 164^3 was chosen magistrate and 
annually re-elected until his death. Matthew Griswold, believed 
to be descended from the heraldic family of Greswolds in War- 
wickshire, came to America and settled in Windsor in 1639. 
In 1646 he married a daughter of Henry Wolcott and 
soon after removed to Saybrook as the agent of Governor 
Fenwick. 

He took up the first tract of land in Lyme, and became one of 
the largest landholders in that town ; and was several times 



10 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

deputy to the General Court. His son, Matthew, hved in L^nne 
and added to the family domain, which extended for several 
miles along the Sound. He was deputy several years and one 
of the Governor's Assistants. His son was Judge John Gris- 
wold, the father of Phebe Parsons. Henry Wolcott's youngest 
son Simon, married Martha Pitkin, " a gentlewoman of bright 
natural parts which were improved by her education in the city 
of London," a sister of William Pitkin the Attorney General 
and Treasurer of the Colony. Roger Wolcott, son of Simon 
and Martha, a very able man, was successively member of the 
Council, Judge of the County and Superior Court, Deputy 
Governor and Chief Justice, INIajor General in the Louisburg 
campaign and Governor of Connecticut. His daughter, 
Ursula Wolcott, married her cousin, Matthew Griswold, brother 
of Phebe Parsons and the future Governor of the State, thus 
uniting a second time these two distinguished families. 

The manner in which high office was continued in certain 
families in Colonial times cannot be better illustrated than by 
noting the relatives, descendants, and marriage connections of 
Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold. Her father, her brother, her hus- 
band, her son, her nephew and four of her cousins were gov- 
ernors of Connecticut. Her father was a major general in 
the Colonial army, and her brothers, Erastus and Oliver, 
generals in the army of the Revolution. Her son was offered 
the post of Secretary of War. One of her nephews was Wash- 
ington's Secretary of the Treasury ; another, Samuel Holden 
Parsons, was a major general in the Continental army and 
Chief Judge of the Northwest Territory ; another, James Hill- 
house, was for sixteen years a senator in Congress. Her cousin, 
Oliver Ellsworth, was Chief Justice of the United States. 
Stephen Titus Hosmer, who married her grandniece, Lucia 
Parsons, was Chief Justice of Connecticut. The circle of her 
descendants and connections comprised sixteen governors of 
States, forty-three distinguished judges and many other 
men of eminence in the State. It was into this environment that 
Samuel Holden Parsons was born. 

The Salisbury Genealogies describe Jonathan Parsons as 
" a man of uncommon genius, eminent as a scholar, a ready and 
correct writer, rich in imagination, with a clear, commanding 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 11 

and persuasive voice, and easy and polished in his manners." 
During the early years of his ministry he taught his people 
rather to rest on their own righteousness for salvation than to 
depend alone on that of Christ ; but after a severe and pro- 
longed mental struggle, the clouds seemed to clear away, and 
the doctrine of salvation by faith burst as a " New Light " on 
his mind. At this time George Whitefield was holding revival 
meetings throughout the country, and with him and with the 
new views of which he was the eloquent advocate, Mr. Parsons 
was in hearty sympathy. The two became very close 
friends. 

But the " New Light " theology, as it was called, and the 
ministerial methods which grew out of it, created great opposi- 
tion to his work, and the contention at length became so sharp 
that in 1745, after a pastorate of fourteen years, Mr. Parsons 
resigned his charge. The following month he was called to the 
new church at Newbury port, Mass., and installed as its Pastor 
in March, 1746. This pastorate continued happily for thirty 
years until his death. 

Mr. Parsons was a firm, uncompromising advocate of civil 
and religious liberty. His loyalty was to the people and not 
to the crown. What he believed he preached, and when the 
struggle against British oppression commenced, he and his 
people were united. There was tea burned in his congregation 
before the " Mohawks " did their work in Boston Harbor, and 
he had so trained the young women of his church that of 
their own free will they settled the question of taxation by 
using herbs from the pastures instead of tea imported in 
British ships. 

On the 19th of July, 1776, Jonathan Parsons died, but he 
had lived long enough to hear Independence declared and to 
see his son, Samuel Holden, in command of a regiment at 
Bunker Hill. Whitefield had died six years before at Parsons' 
house and been laid in a vault built, in accordance with his 
oft-expressed wish, beneath Parsons' pulpit. Parsons was laid 
beside him in the same vault. The remains of tliese two men, 
who lived in perfect sympathy with each other, are to this 
day venerated as the relics of the saints in all the countr\' 
about. 



12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Of Mr. Parsons' children, his daughter, Lydia, married Moses 
Greenleaf of Newburyport and was the mother of Simon Green- 
leaf, the distinguished professor of law at Harvard University 
and the author of a standard work on Evidence. The grand- 
son of his son Jonathan, Isaac Rand Jackson, was Charge 
d' Affaires at Copenhagen, and married Louise C. Carroll of 
Philadelphia, granddaughter of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 
one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 



CHAPTER III 

Parsons Graduates at Harvard and Studies Law. The French 
AND Indian War and the Events Between 1762 and 1775. 

General Parsons was but nine years old when his father 
removed to Newburyport. Here he prepared for college, but 
his studies, aside from the meager facilities afforded by the 
town schools, must have been pursued largely under his father's 
direction. Entering Harvard at fifteen, he graduated with the 
class of 1756, at the age of nineteen, and received from the 
college both a Bachelor's and Master's degree. Except for 
the accident of his removal to Newburyport, Yale, his father's 
college, instead of Harvard, would doubtless have been his Alma 
Mater; but twenty-five years later, in 1781, in recognition of 
eminent services, Yale bestowed upon him an honorary degree 
at the same commencement at which she conferred a similar 
degree on General Washington. After his graduation, young 
Parsons returned to Lyme, where he pursued his legal studies 
under the direction of his accomplished uncle. Governor 
Matthew Griswold. In 1759, when twenty-two years old, he 
was admitted to the bar of New London County and settled at 
Lyme in the practice of the law. 

Among his college mates were John Hancock (175'1), Presi- 
dent of the Continental Congress; Jonathan Trumbull (1759), 
son of the War Governor of Connecticut, afterwards himself 
Governor and a Senator of the United States ; and John Adams 
(1755), who succeeded Washington in the Presidency. Par- 
sons' relations with Adams were more than usually intimate, 
both having the profession of law in view. The following very 
student-like letter written to Parsons by Adams from his home 
in Braintree, Dec. 5, 1760, is interesting as showing the devo- 
tion of both to their chosen profession : 

13 



14 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Sir. — I presume upon the merit of a brother, both in the academ- 
ical and legal family, to give you this trouble, and to ask the favor of 
your correspondence. The science which we have bound ourselves 
to study for life you know to be immensely voluminous, perhaps 
intricate and involved, so that an arduous application to books at 
home, a critical observation of the course of practice, the conduct 
of the older practitioners in courts, and a large correspondence 
with fellow students abroad, as well as conversation in private 
companies upon legal subjects, are needful to gain a thorough 
mastery, if not to make a decent figure in the profession of law. 
The design of this letter then, is to desire that you would write 
me a report of any cause of importance and curiosity, either in 
courts of Admiralty or Common Law, that you hear resolved in 
your Colony. And on my part I am ready and engage to do the 
same of any causes that I shall hear argued in this Province. It 
is an employment that gives me pleasure, and I find that revolving 
a case in my mind, stating it on paper, recollecting the arguments 
on each side and examining the points through my books that 
occur in the course of a trial, make the impression deeper on my 
memory and lets me easier into the spirit of law and practice. In 
view, I send you the report of a cause argued in Boston last term, 
and should be glad to know if the points, whether the statutes of 
mortmain, were ever stirred in your Colony, and by what criterion 
you determine what statutes are, and what are not, extended to 
you. [Here follows the case reported.] 

In September, 1761, at the age of twenty-four, the young 
lawyer married Mehetable Mather, daughter of Richard Mather 
of Lyme, a lineal descendant of the first Richard who came from 
England and settled in Dorchester. She was born in Lyme. 
March 7, 1743, and died in Middletown, Connecticut, August 
7, 1802, and is buried in the old cemetery in that city. The 
marriage of General Parsons and Mehetable INIather is described 
as having been a very important event in Lyme. The whole 
town was invited to the ceremony, which, on account of the 
great number of guests, was held in an orchard adjacent to the 
house. 

At the very last moment, as tradition has it, it was dis- 
covered that a very important personage by some strange over- 
sight had been forgotten, and the wedding was delayed until a 
messenger could be dispatched to bring him. The wedding cake 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 15 

was of immense size, an entire barrel of flour having been con- 
sumed in its making. 

The period between Parsons' graduation and his entrance 
upon pubhc life in 1762, was filled with stirring events well 
calculated to impress his youthful mind. It was the period of 
the French and Indian War, which very properly has been 
regarded as introductory to the War of Independence — a war 
which, although exhausting to the Colonies, proved for them a 
most valuable school of military science, made them conscious 
of their strength, created in them a feeling of self-reliance, of 
manhood, as it were, and of independence, and above all taught 
them the value of united action in resisting the oppressive 
policy of Great Britain. The conflict originated between the 
French and English colonies in a dispute as to territorial 
rights. The French claimed all the territory watered by the 
Mississippi and its tributaries, and had surrounded the English 
settlements with a cordon of fortifications, more than sixty in 
number, extending from Montreal on the north to New Orleans 
on the south. The English, on the other hand, insisted that 
under their ancient charters they were entitled westward to the 
Pacific and northward to the latitude of the north shore of Lake 
Erie. Alarmed by a Crown grant to the Ohio Company of a 
large tract of land on the southeast bank of the Ohio, the 
French commenced to build forts between the Alleghany river 
and Lake Erie near the present western line of Pennsylvania. 
A counter-move was made by the Ohio Company by commencing 
a fort on the present site of Pittsburgh, which the French 
immediately captured and completed under the name of Fort 
Du Quesne. In 1754, Washington was sent with about one hun- 
dred and fifty men to retake the Fort, but being met by a force 
ten times his number, was compelled to retire and return to 
Virginia. In 1755 occurred the disastrous defeat of General 
Braddock while engaged in the same attempt. The mother 
countries having taken the part of their respective colonies, 
war became inevitable and was formally declared in 1756 and 
continued until 1763, when a definitive treaty of peace was 
signed by which France ceded to Great Britain all her posses- 
sions in America east of the Mississippi. At the same time 
Spain ceded Florida to the English Crown. 



16 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The war was entered upon with great enthusiasm by the 
Colonists, but the campaigns of 1756 and 1757 utterly failed 
through the incompetency of the British officers in command. 
That of 1756 resulted in the loss of the Fort at Oswego ; of 
1757 in the capture of Fort William Henry by the French and 
the complete miscarriage of the formidable expedition against 
Louisburg. William Pitt having come into po'wer, competent 
officers were placed in command and new energy infused into 
the war, the effect of which was evident in the results of the 
campaign of 1758. Louisburg was captured and Fort Fron- 
tenac, now Kingston, on the St. Lawrence, but the attempt 
on Ticonderoga proved a miserable failure. In 1759, Pitt 
conceived a scheme of terminating the war and putting an end 
to French dominion in America, by a single stroke; Amherst 
was to take Ticonderoga ; Johnson, Fort Niagara ; and Wolfe, 
Quebec ; all of which was successfully accomplished. The fol- 
lowing year Montreal was surrendered with all the other French 
posts in Canada. This ended the war in the North, but in the 
southern Colonies and the West Indies it lingered through 1761 
and 1762 until the treaty of peace in 1763. The experiences 
and lessons of this war had not been forgotten by the Colonists 
when, twelve years later, the opening gun of the Revolution 
was heard. 

The events of the period between 1763 and 1775, when Par- 
sons entered the army, were even more engrossing than those 
of the war just closed, because directly affecting the liberty 
and property of the Colonists. For more than a hundred years 
it had been the policy of Great Britain to make its Colonies 
subservient to the interests of British commerce. Navigation 
acts, tariff acts and acts suppressing manufactures had been 
passed with this object in view. These acts, however, had not 
been very rigidly enforced and the Colonists were disposed to 
forget past grievances in the hope that justice would be done 
them in future. But the close of the war found the British 
Treasury empty and means must be devised to replenish it. 
The war had disclosed the resources of the Colonies and acts 
were passed to force from them a contribution. In 1765 the 
Stamp Act was passed, but was so vigorously opposed that it 
was repealed the following year. In 1767 a tariff was enacted 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 17 

levying duties on tea and other articles. Troops were sent 
over to enforce coercive measures and a collision and blood- 
shed was the result. In April, 1770, the tariff was repealed as 
to all articles except tea, in the belief that the slight duty upon 
it would be paid without complaint. But the Government mis- 
apprehended the issue. It was not the size of the tax, but the 
right to tax at all without the consent of the Colonies that was 
in question, and the cargoes of tea sent here were either not per- 
mitted to land, or, as in Boston, were thrown into the Harbor. 

The exasperated Parliament passed five retaliatory acts and 
among them, an act known as the Boston Port Bill, closing 
the Port to all commercial transactions and removing the Cus- 
tom House, Courts and other public offices to Salem. Business 
was prostrated and great distress ensued, but food was sent to 
the suffering people from the different Colonies, and even the 
city of London subscribed one hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars for the poor of Boston. 

It was then that the Colonists began preparations for war. 



CHAPTER IV 

Parsons a Member of the Connecticut General Assembly 
and of the committee of correspondence. is the first to 
Suggest a Congress of all the Colonies. Capture of Ticon- 

DEROGA. 

1762—1775 

In 1762, at the age of twenty-five, Mr. Parsons was elected a 
member of the General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticvit, 
and was continuously re-elected until his removal to New Lon- 
don in 1774, a period of twelve years. During this time he 
received repeated proofs of public confidence in various appoint- 
ments of honor and trust. In May, 1768, he was appointed 
Auditor "to settle and adjust the Colony accounts with the 
Treasurer and all others who have received any of the moneys 
that belong to the Colony." In 1769, the same appointment 
was continued with " further powers to renew and better secure 
the moneys and estate due on mortgages, bonds or other securi- 
ties belonging to this Colony, which are in danger of being 
lost." 

In October, 1773, under an act of the General Court " con- 
cerning the western lands, so called, lying westward of the 
Delaware River within the boundaries of this Colony," he was 
appointed and associated with the Hon. Matthew Griswold, 
Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman, William Samuel Johnson, 
Silas Deane, William Williams and Jedediah Strong on a com- 
mittee with full power to assist his Honor Governor Trumbull 
in taking " proper steps to pursue the claim of the Colony of 
Connecticut to said western lands ; and any three of said com- 
mittee were authorized and directed to proceed to Philadelphia 
to treat with his Honor Governor Penn and the agents of the 
Proprietaries respecting an amicable agreement concerning 
the boundaries of this Colony and the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania; or if the Proprietaries should so prefer, to join with 
them in an application to his Majesty for commissioners to settle 

18 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 19 

such boundaries. The Committee was hkewise empowered to 
treat with respect to the peace of the inhabitants who are 
settled upon said lands, and to agree upon such measures as 
shall prevent violence and contention." In January, 1774, the 
same Committee was " appointed and empowered to assist his 
Honor Governor Trumbull in collecting and preparing all 
exhibits and documents necessary to prosecute the claim and 
title of the Colony to the lands lying within the boundaries of 
the grant and Charter of the Colony west of the Delaware 
River, in the Courts of Great Britain, and to make a proper 
statement of the case to be transmitted to Great Britain for 
that purpose." Connecticut claimed under its Charter the 
north two-fifths of Pennsylvania, but the land immediately in 
dispute was the Wyoming District which had been settled by 
Connecticut people. Mr. Parsons was an active member of the 
Committee and contributed materially to the object of its 
appointment ; but the labors of the Committee proved of no 
avail, for the war with Great Britain prevented the proposed 
submission to the English Courts, and the Commission 
appointed in 1782 to determine the controversy, as provided by 
the Articles of Confederation, after a protracted hearing, 
decided adversely to the claims of Connecticut. 

In November, 1773, Mr. Parsons was appointed King's, or 
prosecuting. Attorney for New London County. In May, 1774, 
the General Assembly appointed him agent for the Colony, 
"to sue and collect all claims due the Colony from persons 
residing in New London County, and to recover all lands 
belonging to the Colony which were unduly detained, with full 
power to appear before any court or courts of judicature and 
represent said Colony." 

In May, 1773, the House of Representatives of the Colony 
of Connecticut, in response to certain resolutions passed by the 
House of Burgesses of the Colony of Virginia the previous 
March, resolved as follows : — 



Resolved, That a Standing Committee of Correspondence and 
Enquiry to consist of nine persons, viz: the Hon. Ebenezer Silli- 
man, Esq., William Williams, Benjamin Payne, Samuel Holden 
Parsons, Nathaniel Wales, Silas Deane, Samuel Bishop, Joseph 



W LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Trumbull and Erastus Wolcott, Esq., be, and hereby is, appointed, 
whose business it shall be to obtain all such intelligence, and take 
up and maintain correspondence with our sister Colonies respecting 
the important considerations mentioned and expressed in the afore- 
said resolutions of the patriotic House of Burgesses of Virginia, 
and the result of such their proceedings from time to time to lay 
before this House. 

Resolved, That the Speaker of this House do transmit to the 
Speakers of the different Assemblies of the British Colonies on 
this Continent, copies of these resolutions, and request that they 
would come into similar measures, and communicate from time to 
time with the said Committee on all matters wherein the common 
welfare and safety of the Colonies are concerned. 

In response to this appeal, similar committees were appointed 
by all the Colonies, and to their earnest and patriotic efforts 
was largely due the concert of action on the part of the Colonies 
in resisting the claims of Great Britain. Mr. Parsons was a 
very active and energetic member of this Committee and very 
zealous in the cause of the Colonies. Previous to his appoint- 
ment he had corresponded with the leaders of the opposition 
in Massachusetts, and in a letter to Samuel Adams, written 
March 3, 1773, originated the suggestion of assembling the 
first Congress of all the Colonies which subsequently met at 
Philadelphia. This honor was claimed in 1841 by his biog- 
rapher for Samuel Adams, but he could not have been aware 
of the existence of this letter the original of which was among 
the papers of Mr. Adams in the possession of Mr. Bancroft — 
a letter so full of fervent patriotism that it may not be amiss 
to insert it here entire: — 

March 3, 1773. 
Sir. — When the spirit of patriotism seems expiring in America 
in general, it must afford a very sensible pleasure to the friends of 
American liberty to see the noble efforts of our Boston friends in 
support of the rights of America, as well as their unshaken reso- 
lution in opposing any, the least invasion of their charter privileges. 
I was called to my father's on a very melancholy occasion, and 
designed to have seen you before my return, but some unforeseen 
difficulties prevented. I therefore take the liberty to propose to 
vour consideration whether it would not be advisable in the present 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 21 

critical situation of the colonies, to revive an institution which had 
formerly a very salutary effect — I mean an annual meeting of com- 
missioners from the colonies to consult on their general welfare. 
You may recollect this took place about the year 1636, and was 
continued to 1684, between the United Colonies of New England. 
Although they had no decisive authority of themselves, yet here 
everything was concerted which will be easily suggested to your 
mind. If we were to take our connection with Great Britain into 
consideration, it would render the measure convenient, as at present 
our state of independence on one another is attended with very 
manifest inconvenience. I have time only to suggest the thought 
to you, who I know can improve more on the subject than is in my 
power, had I time. The idea of inalienable allegiance to any prince 
or state, is an idea to me inadmissible; and I cannot but see that 
our ancestors, when they first landed in America, were as inde- 
pendent of the crown or king of Great Britain, as if they never 
had been his subjects; and the only rightful authority derived to 
him over this people, was by explicit covenant contained in the first 
charters. These are but broken hints of sentiments I wish I was 
at liberty more fully to explain. 
I am, sir, in haste, with esteem, your most obedient servant. 

Sam. H. Parsons. 
To Mr. Samuel Adams, in Boston. 

Forwarded by Mr. Howe. 

The two following letters, the first of which is in the Emmet 
collection in the Lenox Library, and the second of which was 
found among the Adams papers, were evidently from their style 
written by Parsons, and evince a vigilance in "the cause of the 
Colonies and a bold patriotism and determined spirit of resist- 
ance to oppression worthy of note. 

Hartford, June 16, 1772. 

Gentlemen. — We are informed that the House of Representa- 
tives of the Province of Massachusetts have obtained from England 
sundry original letters from divers persons in that and the neighbor- 
ing governments of an extraordinary nature tending to subvert the 
Constitution of the Colonies in general and of that Province in 
particular. 

That some of these letters are from persons in this Colony. We 
request you to communicate to us such letters in particular as were 
written by any person or persons in this Colony, and any others 



S2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

you may think proper. We shall be glad to be advised of the steps 
taken with those offenders within your Province that similar 
measures may be adopted here with such traitors. 

The Colonies are all embarked in the same general cause. A 
union in sentiment and measures are of the utmost importance 
effectually to oppose the wicked designs of our common enemies, 
and on that ground we shall at all times gladly lend our aid in 
every measure tending to support and defend that general cause. 

We are with great truth and regard, Gentlemen, your most 
obedient and humble servants, 

Erastus Wolcott, 
Nath. Wales Jr. 
Sam. H. Parsons. 
Jos. Trumbull. 
To John Hancock, Esq., and the rest of the Committee of Corre- 
spondence in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. 

Hartford, May 17, 177 Jf. 

Gentlemen. — This moment a post from New York arrived here 
on his road to Boston with intelligence of the spirit and firmness 
with which the inhabitants of that city concur with the friends of 
America in support of the cause of our country. We cannot suffer 
him to pass without informing you, who immediately feel the 
effects of ministerial despotism, that the American cause, the state 
of the town of Boston in particular, and the effect and operation 
of the late detestable act of an abandoned and venal Parliament, 
were this day brought before our House of Assembly for con- 
sideration; and, on discussing the matter, there is no reason to 
doubt a hearty, spirited concurrence of our Assembly in every 
proper measure for the redress of our wrongs. A committee is 
appointed to report proper measures to be pursued, and make 
drafts for the declaration of our rights, &c., which will probably 
be reported and passed this week, a copy of which will be trans- 
mitted as soon as possible. We consider the cause the common 
cause of all the Colonies, and doubt not the concurrence of all to 
defend and support you. Let us play the man for the cause of our 
Country and trust the event to Him who orders all events for the 
best good of his people. 

We should not have written you at this time, and when no more 
of our Committee are present, but that your distressed condition 
requires the aid of every friend for your relief. We cannot be 
warranted in having this made public as from our Committee, there 
not being a quorum present, but you are at liberty to use it as from 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 23 

us personally^ if it can in the least tend to strengthen the hands 
and encourage the hearts of those in distress. 

We are, Gentlemen, your friends and countrymen, the Com- 
mittee of Correspondence at Hartford, 

Samuel H. Parsons. 

Nathaniel Wales Jr. 
To the Committee of Correspondence at Boston. 

The " late detestable act " referred to, is the Boston Port 
Bill, which was creating great distress in Boston. 

By a resolution of the House of Representatives of Con- 
necticut, passed June 3, 1774, the Committee of Correspon- 
dence was empowered to appoint a suitable number of delegates 
to attend a General Congress to consult and advise on proper 
measures for advancing the best good of the Colonies. In pur- 
suance of this resolution, the Committee met at New London, 
July 13, 1774, and appointed Eliphalet Dyer, William Samuel 
Johnson, Erastus Wolcott, Silas Deane, and Richard Law as 
such delegates. Messrs. Johnson, Wolcott, and Law being 
unable to accept, the Committee met at Hartford in August 
and appointed in their stead, Roger Sherman and Joseph 
Trumbull, who, with Messrs. Dyer and Deane, represented the 
Colony of Connecticut in the first General Congress of the 
Colonies, which assembled at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, 
September 5, 1774. Mr. Parsons' activity and earnestness in 
this matter is apparent from his letter to jNIr. Trumbull respect- 
ing the meeting of the Committee, dated. New London, July 
28th, when he says : — 

I hope no business of a private nature will divert you from 
attending to this important public business. As the eyes of all the 
Continent are upon the Congress for relief, so I think we should 
be unpardonable to suffer small things to divert us from attending 
to make this appointment. 

The action of the Connecticut Legislature in resolving to 
appoint delegates to the Congress was immediately com- 
municated by the Committee of Correspondence to the Com- 
mittee at Boston and to the House of Representatives of 
Massachusetts. The House, in consequence, on motion of 



24 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Samuel Adams, adopted a similar resolution. To Connecticut, 
therefore, belongs the honor of first suggesting and first acting 
upon the matter of a Congress of all the American Colonies, the 
first suggestion having been made by Mr. Parsons in his letter 
of March 3, 1773, to Samuel Adams, and the first action having 
been taken by the Connecticut Legislature, June 3, 1774, in 
passing the resolution to appoint delegates, of which Legisla- 
ture Mr. Parsons was a prominent and influential member. 

Connecticut is also entitled to the credit of originating and 
setting on foot the expedition against Ticonderoga, " to 
which," says Governor Hall in his Early History of Vermont, 
" belongs the honor of compelling the first surrender of the 
British flag to the coming republic." The facts of the expedi- 
tion, about which there has been some controversy, are briefly 
as follows. On the 26th of April, 1775, Mr. Parsons, return- 
ing to Hartford from Massachusetts, where he had gone 
immediately upon the receipt of the news of Lexington and Con- 
cord, which had been fought the week before, met Benedict 
Arnold, then captain of a company of volunteers on his way to 
the camp at Cambridge, who, as we learn from a letter written 
by Parsons to his classmate, Joseph Trumbull, April 26, 1775, 
" gave him an account of the state of Ticonderoga, and that a 
great number of brass cannon were there." The project of 
surprising the Fort must have been talked over between them, 
but which one suggested the enterprise is not certain, for on 
the 30th, Arnold proposed the matter to the Massachusetts 
Committee and was commissioned colonel and authorized to 
raise troops for the purpose; and Parsons, immediately upon 
his arrival at Hartford, called upon Colonel Samuel W3'llys of 
Hartford and Silas Deane of Wethersfield, and with them, as 
he says in his letter to Trumbull, " first undertook and pro- 
jected taking that Fort &c, and with the assistance of other per- 
sons procured money men &c." On the 28th, Parsons, Wyllys, 
Deane, Thomas Mumford of Groton and Adam Babcock of 
New Haven, borrowed from the Colonial treasury three hun- 
dred pounds, for which they gave their own " promissory 
receipts." As success depended on secrecy and dispatch, they 
determined to proceed quietly and intrusted the money to Noah 
Phelps and Bernard Romaine with instructions to " repair to 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 25 

the New Hampshire- Grants and raise there an army of men," 
and to draw for more money, if necessary, which proved to be 
the case, as ten pounds was drawn on the 15th, and five hun- 
dred pounds on the 17th of May: They left on the same day 
for SaHsbury, where they were joined on the 30th by Captain 
Edward Mott of Parsons' regiment with five men. Having 
secured a few additional recruits, the whole party left for Pitts- 
field, May first, where about sixty men were enlisted, and whence 
a dispatch was sent to Colonel Ethan Allen, a native of Con- 
necticut, directing him to join them with his " Green Mountain 
Boys." John Brown of Pittsfield, a lawyer and afterwards a 
colonel, who in a report to the Massachusetts Committee in 
March, 1775, had urged the taking of Ticonderoga as soon as 
possible after the commencement of hostilities, also enlisted 
when told the object of the expedition. The rendezvous was at 
Castleton where about two hundred and seventy men assembled 
and where Arnold joined them with a few followers. On the 
9th of May, the expedition crossed the Lake under the command 
of Colonel Allen, and at the dawn of the next morning the Fort 
was surprised and taken with all its garrison and stores, with- 
out the loss of a single life. Thus was this enterprise projected 
and carried through without consulting any in authority, solely 
upon the responsibility and " by the united councils of a number 
of private gentlemen," who raised the money for the expedition 
upon their own personal credit, and Mr. Parsons was the moving 
spirit in the enterprise. 

The following memorial and the resolution thereon of 
the Connecticut Assembly, will be of interest in this connec- 
tion : — 

" To the Honorable General Assembly now sitting, the memorial 
of Samuel H. Parsons, humbly showeth: That in April, 1775, the 
memorialist, Mr. Silas Deane and Col. Samuel Wyllys with others, 
were induced from the particular situation of public affairs, to 
undertake surprising and seizing the enemy's post at Ticonderoga, 
without the knowledge and approbation of the Assembly; and to 
prosecute the business were necessitated to take out a quantity of 
money from the treasury, for which they gave their promissory 
receipt; that the whole moneys were delivered to the gentlemen 
sent on that service, and were actually expended therein. That said 



26 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

receipts are still held against the promissors, notwithstanding the 
public have taken the post into their own hands and repaid the 
expense. Your memorialist, therefore, prays your honors to order 
said receipts to be given up and the sums thereof be allowed the 
treasurer in settlement of his accounts with this State. 
Dated in Hartford, the 30th of May, 1777. 

Samuel H. Parsons. 

The Assembly acting thereon, after reciting the memorial, 

Resolved, That said receipts, given as aforesaid, be delivered up 
to the memorialist, or some of the persons who executed them, to 
be cancelled upon their exhibiting and lodging with the Committee 
of Pay-Table the accounts and vouchers of their disposition and ex- 
penditure of the sums contained in said receipts, which are as 
follows, viz: — one receipt dated 28th April, 1775, for two hundred 
pounds, signed Thomas Mumford, Samuel H. Parsons, Silas Deane 
and Samuel Wyllys ; one receipt, dated same 28th April, 1775, for 
one hundred pounds, signed Thomas Mumford, Adam Babcock, 
Samuel H. Parsons and Silas Deane; one receipt dated 15th May, 
1775, for ten pounds, signed Samuel Bishop, William Williams and 
Samuel H. Parsons; and also one other receipt, dated May 17th, 
1775, for five hundred pounds, signed Joshua Porter, Thomas 
Mumford, Jesse Root, Ezekiel Williams, Samuel Wyllys and Chas. 
Webb. 

And it is further resolved, that the Committee of Pay-Table, 
upon receiving the said accounts and vouchers of the expenditures 
of said moneys, charge the account thereof to the Continent, and 
that the amount of the sums contained in said receipts, be allowed 
the Treasurer in account with this State on his delivering up said 
receipts pursuant to this resolution." 

The action of the legislature and the original receipts are 
recorded in the office of the Secretary of State at Hartford. 
Of the patriotic men who assumed the responsibility of this 
enterprise, Samuel H. Parsons became a major general in the 
Continental Army, and Chas. Webb and Samuel Wyllys, 
colonels in the same army ; Silas Deane, at that time a member 
of the Continental Congress, was afterwards sent to France as 
the political and financial agent of the colonies ; Thomas Mum- 
ford, then a member of the Assembly, rendered valuable service 
to his country all through the war in procuring supplies for the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 27 

army. The Committee of the Pay-Table managed all the 
military finances of the Colony. 

The great value of the capture of Ticonderoga cannot be 
appreciated without understanding the importance of holding 
the ancient line of communication between the States and 
Canada by way of the Hudson and Lake Champlain. This 
was seen and realized during the old French wars, and the 
central object of the campaigns of 1776 and 1777 on the 
part of the British Ministry was to obtain control of this line. 
With New York and Albany in the possession of the British 
and the Hudson and the Lake patrolled by numerous small 
vessels, New England would have been effectually isolated from 
the other Colonies and the rebellion easily put down. The 
patriots understood this well, hence the prompt surprise of 
Ticonderoga, the construction of numerous fortifications along 
the Hudson, and the retention throughout the war of large 
bodies of troops in the Highlands under the command of the 
most trusty generals. 



CHAPTER V 

Siege of Boston. Reorganization of the Army. March to 

New York. 

April, 1775— March, 1776 

Under the organization of the Connecticut militia existing 
before the war, the miHtia of Lyme and New London belonged 
to the Third Regiment, the field officers of which in 1774, were 
Gurdon Saltonstall of New London, colonel, Jabez Huntington 
of Norwich, lieutenant colonel, and Samuel Holden Parsons of 
Lyme, major. In 1775, Parsons was made lieutenant colonel in 
place of Huntington, resigned. 

At the special session of the General Assembly, April 26th to 
May 6th, an act was passed " for assembling and equipping, 
etc. a number of the inhabitants of this Colony for the special 
defense and safety thereof," under which six regiments of State 
troops were raised. Parsons was made colonel of the Sixth 
Regiment which was recruited in New London and the neighbor- 
ing towns, his commission dating May 1, 1775. John Tyler, 
afterwards a brigadier in the militia, was appointed lieutenant 
colonel, and Samuel Prentice, major. These three Field Officers 
were also appointed captains of the First, Second and Third 
Companies respectively. Early in the year, William Coit of 
New London, a Yale graduate of the class of 1761, had raised 
and equipped a company composed mostly of New London 
sailors which he called his " Independent Marines." Parsons, 
in the capacity of colonel, is recorded as being out with Captain 
Coit and twenty men of this company for thirty days during 
the Lexington Alarm, which must have been until nearly the end 
of May. It is probable that upon the organization of the 
Sixth Regiment this company enlisted in a body while still in 
Boston, for Day and Adams continued adjutant and ensign, but 
this is uncertain as the enlistment rolls are missing, which might 
well be accounted for if the re-enlistment was made while in 
camp. Better drilled and equipped than most of the militia, 

28 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 29 

Coit's was made the Fourth Company, the first after the three 
of which the Field Officers were captains. October 24th, while 
yet in Parsons' regiment before Boston, Coit was ordered by 
General Washington to march with his sailor-soldiers to Ply- 
mouth and take command of the privateer, " Harrison." After 
capturing several prizes, he returned to camp and at the close 
of the year retired from land service. Captain Coit is described 
as a "hearty patriot, blunt and jovial, very large in frame, 
fierce and military in bearing and noted for wearing a scarlet 
coat." The other captains of Parsons' regiment were James 
Chapman, Waterman Clift, Edward Mott, Samuel Gale, John 
Ely and Abel Spicer, who commanded the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, 
Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Companies in the order named. 

By the middle of May nearly the full complement of the 
Sixth Regiment had been enlisted. In June a review of the 
regiment was held in New London, which is " believed to have 
been the first regimental training in the State east of the 
Connecticut River." 

At a meeting of the Governor and Council held at Lebanon 
June 7, 1775, Colonel Parsons was ordered " to proceed with 
the company under his immediate command and that under the 
command of Captain Chapman, to the camp at Boston and join 
the troops heretofore sent and stationed there by the Hon. 
Assembly." Captain Mott's company had already been sent to 
the Northern Department, where he had previously gone with 
the expedition against Ticonderoga, and Captain Coit's com- 
pany does not appear to have returned from Boston where it had 
gone upon the Lexington Alarm. June 17th, the day of the 
battle of Bunker Hill, the remaining six companies of the regi- 
ment, which had been left in New London under the command 
of Lieut. Colonel Tyler, were also ordered to Boston. Parsons' 
and Chapman's companies must have reached camp several 
days before the battle, as it was not more than five or six days 
march to Boston, but the six companies under Tyler could not 
have arrived there until a week or more after that event. 
Parsons encamped in Roxbury, as appears from a letter written 
by him to his wife, dated, Roxbury, June 21st, and from the 
following entry in the diary of Lieut. Colonel Experience Storrs 
of Putnam's regiment, dated June 27th: "Went to Roxbury 



so LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

with brother Eleazer to see Gen. Spencer, Col. Parsons and 
Capt. Crafts." 

At this time Boston was almost an island, its only connection 
with the mainland being by a low, narrow isthmus on the Rox- 
bury side. The heights on Dorchester Neck at the south, and 
the hills on the peninsula of Charlestown at the north, com- 
manded the city, and the fortifying of either would render the 
city untenable. Perceiving this. General Gage had planned to 
extend his lines on the 18th to include Charlestown, but informa- 
tion of his intention having reached the American camp, it was 
determined to anticipate the movement by fortifying Bunker 
Hill. On the night of June 16th, Colonel Prescott was sent for 
this purpose with a force of one thousand men detailed from the 
Massachusetts and Connecticut regiments around Cambridge, 
two hundred of whom were Connecticut men under Captain 
Knowlton. Early in the morning of the 17th, the redoubt was 
completed. Soon after noon the first detachment of the British 
landed on the northern side of the peninsula near the Mystic 
River, and so far to the left of the front of the Fort that it was 
in imminent danger of being flanked. Seeing this, Prescott 
ordered Knowlton with his Connecticut troops to form behind 
a post and rail fence set in a low stone wall which extended some 
fifteen hundred feet from near the Works towards the Mystic 
River, and oppose any movement of the enemy in that direction. 
Reinforcements were sadly needed and Prescott had sent mes- 
sengers urging that they be sent without delay ; but Ward, who 
was in chief command, fearing to weaken his force lest the main 
attack be made upon Cambridge, refused to send assistance 
until the landing of the second detachment on the peninsula 
made obvious the enemy's intention, when he ordered forward the 
regiments of Stark and Reed. These were all the troops which 
arrived before the beginning of the attack, but Putnam, ever 
vigilant and active, had, after the first landing, sent his son 
with orders to the Connecticut forces at Cambridge to march 
immediately to Bunker Hill. Chester of Putnam's regiment 
and the First and Fourth Companies of Parsons' regiment, 
Coit's and Parsons' own, who seem to have been brought over 
from Roxbury, hastened forward and joined Knowlton at the 
rail fence before the battle ended. The British had twice 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 31 

simultaneously attacked the redoubt and the line at the rail 
fence, and twice had been hurled back by the withering fire, and 
this although the advance against the rail fence had been led by 
Howe in person. Exasperated at their defeat, the enemy again 
formed for a final assault. Six battalions were concentrated 
upon the redoubt, attacking it upon all three sides, while the 
light infantry and the grenadiers were left to continue the 
attack upon the fence. With numbers reduced and ammunition 
expended, Prescott was unable but for a brief period to keep 
back the enemy, and, overwhelmed by superior numbers, ordered 
a retreat. But Howe's column had not been able to force the 
line at the fence, and the enemy were held firmly in check until 
Prescott's men had left the hill, when they too fell back. In 
the passage across the Charlestown causeway, many were killed 
by the fire from the ships. As to the precise part taken in the 
action by Coit's and Parsons' companies, and as to how many 
of each were present, we have no record; but a letter written by 
Parsons to his wife four days after the battle, informs us that 
John Saunders of Lyme, a private in his company, was wounded, 
not so severely, however, as to prevent him serving until the end 
of the war, and that Captain Coit had ten wounded, two danger- 
ously so. " The particular account of the battle " which he 
mentions having written to his uncle, Matthew Griswold, the 
Deputy Governor, had it been preserved, might furnish the miss- 
ing details, but enough is said to warrant the inference that 
some part of Parsons company and the greater part of Coit's 
was actively engaged. On the night of Saturday, the day 
of the battle. Parsons seems to have been on duty throughout 
the night with his whole command. 

The following is the letter referred to from General Parsons 

to his wife : 

RoxBURYj 21st J line, 1775. 

My Dear. — I have wrote the particular account of the battle of 

Saturday last to the Deputy Govn. which I desired him to show 

you. I can now only add that on the best information we are since 

able to procure, the Regulars have made a very dear purchase; 

tis confidently reported they lost one Genl. Officer, supposed to be 

Genl. Howe. Major Pitcairn and Major Sheriff are among their 

dead. In the whole they have lost about 30 officers and not less 

than 300 privates besides wounded. Many imprudences may be 



32 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

corrected by us by this dear bought victory of theirs. Each side 
are making the best preparations in their power for another battle 
which is soon expected. Lt. Bingham of Lyme who was sup- 
posed to be killed, is well and returned to camp safe. Robert 
Hallum is wounded. He discharged 28 cartridges without retreat- 
ing one foot, 8 of which was after he was wounded. Thos. 
Grosvenor is wounded, the ball went twice through his hand and 
wounded him in the breast afterwards. John Saunders of Lyme 
wounded. Capt. Coit had 10 wounded, two dangerously; none killed. 
Capt. Chester, 4 killed and 5 wounded; in the whole from Con- 
necticut about 25 killed and as many wounded. The whole loss on 
our side not yet ascertained, but I think it will not fall short of 130 
killed and wounded. We are raising batteries and should be soon 
able to do their work if we had powder sufficient, which at present 
I fear. Many suppose the number of their troops exceed our ex- 
pectations which must be the case if their number of tents are not 
for a deception which I suspect it to be. They fought bravely, 
were twice repulsed by our men and rallied again and forced our 
intrenchments sword in hand. We have had nothing but a few 
scattering shot here since Sunday. I am pretty well over the 
fatigue of Saturday night which I spent on the soft side of a rock 
on my arms, amidst a cloud of bombs and cannon balls, but thanks 
to God but two men were killed and about the same number 
wounded. Billy is well; he is gone to Newbury to-day to buy me 
some things, as nothing is to be had here. I intend to keep him 
out of danger if I can. If anybody comes down send me about 
ten pounds in money if you can. One of Capt. Chester's men killed 
two regulars and wrenched a gun out of the hands of another and 
shot him dead and brought oif the gun. What my fate will be God 
only knows. I hope He will give me fortitude in the day of battle 
and you and me resignation to His will, who always doeth what is 
best for His people. Pray let me hear from you every week. You 
must easily imagine my anxiety to hear. 

I am, with love to the children, 

Yr. affectionate husband, 

S. H. Parsons. 

Of the persons mentioned In Parsons' letter, Robert Hallum 
was a sergeant in Coit's company and Thomas Grosvenor and 
Lieut. Bingham were lieutenants in Putnam's First and Ninth 
Companies. Billy, was Parsons' eldest son and the Deputy 
Governor, his uncle. 

On the 15th of June, 1775, Washington was elected General 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARS(3NS 33 

by the Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia, of 
which he was a member, and made Commander-in-Chief of the 
American army. On the 17th, Congress appointed Ward, Lee, 
Schuyler and Putnam, major generals, and on the 22d, the day 
the news from Bunker Hill was received, Pomeroy, Montgomery, 
Wooster, Heath, Spencer, Thomas, Sullivan and Greene, 
brigadier generals. Gates had been made adjutant general 
with the rank of brigadier. On the 23d, Washington com- 
menced liis journey of eleven days to Cambridge, where he 
arrived on the afternoon of Sunday, the 2d of July. On the 
following day, under the great elm on Cambridge Common, he 
assumed command of the army. On the 10th he reports to the 
President of Congress, that having " visited the several posts 
occupied by our troops and reconnoitered those of the enemy," 
he finds that the main body of the latter is strongly intrenched 
on Bunker Hill with their sentry line extended about one 
hundred and fifty yards beyond the narrow part of Charlestown 
Neck, and is protected by three floating batteries and a twenty 
gun ship, besides a battery on Copp's Hill ; and that the 
remainder of their army, except the Light Horse and a few men 
in Boston, is " deeply intrenched and strongly fortified " on 
Roxbury Neck, their outposts being advanced about twenty 
rods south of their lines. The American army, Washington 
found scattered along a line ten miles in length extending from 
the Mystic River on the north to Dorchester on the south. 
Winter and Prospect Hills in the rear of Charlestown Neck had 
been fortified and the landing places strengthened down to 
Sewall's farm on the south side of the Charles River, where a 
strong intrenchment had been thrown up. Strong works had 
been constructed by General Thomas on Roxbury Hill, " which 
because of the brokenness of the ground and the great number 
of rocks made that part secure." Winter Hill was occupied 
by the New Hampshire troops and a Rhode Island regiment ; a 
part of Putnam's Connecticut men were on Prospect Hill ; Cam- 
bridge was guarded entirely by Massachusetts troops ; the 
remainder of the Rhode Islanders manned the Works at Sewall's 
farm; two Connecticut and nine Massachusetts regiments were 
at Roxbury. The main bodies of the two armies were scarcely 
a mile apart, and the outposts, both at Boston and Charlestown 



34 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Neck, were within earshot of each other. The diary of 
Samuel Bisby under date of November 26, mentions that " a 
flag of truce was sent into Boston by Colonel Parsons and one 
was returned by the enemy." 

The proximity of the lines compelled the greatest vigilance on 
both sides, particularly on the part of the Americans, because 
of the extent of their lines and the central position of the 
enemy. Both sides were continually busy in extending and 
strengthening their Works, but there were frequent skirmishes 
to relieve the monotony of the siege. On July 8th, a party from 
General Thomas' camp drove in the advanced guards of the 
enemy at Boston Neck and burned several houses which they 
had been occupying some distance outside their lines. On the 
10th, three hundred volunteers landed on Long Island in Boston 
Harbor and carried off all the cattle and a number of prisoners. 
Two days later, another party burned the hay stacked on the 
same island for the British cavalry. Still later, all the ripe 
grain was reaped and brought off from Nantasket. On the 
30th, a party from Dorchester attacked and captured the car- 
penters and a guard of marines sent to rebuild the Boston light- 
house, which had been burned. 

On the 4th of August Washington writes to Congress that 
the army had been divided into three grand divisions, — the right 
with headquarters at Roxbury, under Ward ; the center at Cam- 
bridge under Lee ; and the left at Winter Hill under Putnam, — 
each division into two brigades consisting of about six regi- 
ments each, those of the right wing under Thomas and Spencer ; 
of the center, under Heath, and of the left wing under Sullivan 
and Greene. Spencer's brigade was composed of four regi- 
ments including his own. Parsons' and Huntington's, and was 
encamped on Parker's or Great Hill. 

From this army, larger than any ever before assembled on 
the Continent and now fully organized, the people expected 
great things and daily looked for news of the expulsion or 
capture of the British. But the army was dangerously weak 
and compelled to remain inactive from a cause which Washing- 
ton was obliged to conceal from the public and even from most 
of his officers — the great scarcity of powder. He was most 
anxious to make an attack on Boston, but a Council of War 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 35 

called in September to consider its advisability, unanimously 
determined that under the circumstances it was not to be 
hazarded. 

In October, Washington writing to Robert Carter Nicholas 
in Virginia, explains the situation : " The enemy in Boston and 
on the heights at Charlestown are so strongly fortified as to 
render it almost impossible to force their lines thrown up at the 
head of each neck. Without great slaughter on our side, or 
cowardice on theirs, it is absolutely so. We, therefore, can do 
no more than keep them besieged, which they are to all intents 
and purposes as closely as any troops can be, who have an open- 
ing to the sea. Our advanced Works and theirs are within 
musket shot. We daily undergo a cannonade which has done 
no injury to our Works and very little hurt to our men. These 
insults we are compelled to submit to for want of powder, being 
obliged^ except now and then giving them a shot, to reserve 
what we have for closer work than cannon-distance." 

While the army around Boston was busy watching the 
beleaguered foe, King George the Third was endeavoring to 
negotiate with Catharine of Russia for twenty thousand mer- 
cenaries to enable him to put down the rebellion in America, it 
being openly acknowledged in Parliament that enough British 
recruits could not be procured on any terms for the purpose. 
Fortunately for the Colonies, the sagacious Empress, realizing 
the dishonorable character of the proposition made by the King, 
rejected it contemptuously, and with keen irony inquired 
through her Minister, " Could not his Majesty make use of 
Hanoverians." In the end he was obliged to resort for his 
auxiliaries to the petty German Principalities whose troops 
were in the market for a moderate consideration. The Duke of 
Brunswick sold him four thousand men, and the Landgrave of 
Hesse Cassel about thirteen thousand, one fourth of all the 
ablebodied men among his subjects. 

Early in November preparations were made to raise a new 
army to serve until January 1, 1777, the period of enlistment 
of the army of 1775 being about to expire. It was hoped that 
the old troops would " press to be engaged in the cause of their 
country," but instead, enlistments were discouragingly slow and 
few would enlist unless granted a furlough. As Schuyler wrote 



f 



S6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

of the New England men in the Northern Army, " nothing 
could surpass their impatience to get to their firesides." The 
monotony of the siege, unbroken except by an occasional skir- 
mish, the discomforts of the camp, the severe strain of guard duty 
and the constant intrenching and fortifying had subdued some- 
what the enthusiasm of the soldiers, and their longing for home 
became more intense as the time for discharge drew near. The 
term of the Connecticut troops expired December 10, but 
their officers had given assurances that they would remain until 
January 1, or until the five thousand militia who had been 
called out for the 10th should arrive to take their places. 
Notwithstanding such assurances and their orders to remain 
until the tenth, the majority resolved to leave camp on the 
first, but by threats and persuasions, and in consequence of the 
activity of the country people who turned many of them back 
who had set out for home, the greater number were prevailed 
upon to stay until December 10, the time for their regular 
discharge. The people of Connecticut were very indignant at 
the conduct of their troops, and Governor Trumbull wrote to 
Washington that he had convened the Legislature and assured 
him that he might depend " on their zeal and ardor to support 
the common cause, to furnish our quota and to exert their utmost 
strength for the defense of the rights of these Colonies." 

The action of the Connecticut troops was nevertheless very 
discouraging to Washington who wrote to Governor Cooke of 
Rhode Island that he had " no reason to believe that the forces 
of New Hampshire, Massachusetts or Rhode Island will give 
stronger proofs of their attachment to the cause when the period 
arrives that they may claim their dismission." On the 11th, 
in the same spirit, he wrote to the President of Congress that he 
expected that all the five thousand militia " will be in this day 
or to-morrow, when what remains of the Connecticut gentry 
who have not enlisted will have liberty to go to their firesides." 
But, as he had predicted to Governor Cooke, the Connecticut 
troops were not the only ones afflicted with homesickness, for in 
a letter to Joseph Reed, January 4th, he says : " the same desire 
of retiring into a chimney corner seized the troops of New 
Hampshire, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, so soon as their 
time expired, as had wrought upon those of Connecticut." In 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 37 

the same letter he further writes : " We are now left with a 
good deal less than half-raised regiments and about five thou- 
sand militia who only stand engaged to the middle of this 
month ; . . . We are told that we shall soon get the army 
completed, but I have been told so many things which have not 
come to pass that I distrust everything." There was doubtless 
abundant reason to complain of the conduct of the New 
England troops, but would Washington have found his Vir- 
ginians, under the same circumstances, any less anxious to see 
their homes? 

To add to the general discouragement news came of the utter 
failure of the expedition into Canada. Montreal had surren- 
dered, but the brave Montgomery had fallen in the assault on 
Quebec and his army had been repulsed. 

By the middle of January the enlistments had reached nearly 
eleven thousand. In the absence or loss of the rolls for 1776, 
it is uncertain how many of the soldiers of 1775 re-enlisted, 
but considering the inducements offered and the spirit of the 
people at home, probably the greater number returned to th^ 
army. In the reorganization, the five Connecticut regiments 
were assigned, the Tenth to Parsons, the Seventeenth to Hunt- 
ington, the Nineteenth to Chas. Webb, the Twentieth, Putnam's 
old regiment, to Benedict Arnold, but later as Arnold never 
assumed command, to Col. Durkee, and the Twenty-Second to 
Wyllys. These regiments were all, except the Twentieth, 
brigade, under Spencer and formed a part of Ward's Division. 

On the 16th of January a Council was summoned to consider 
whether a determined attempt should not be made to capture 
Boston before the enemy could be reinforced in the spring. It 
was agreed that the attempt should be made, but that the present 
force was inadequate, and that to strengthen it the New Eng- 
land Colonies should be requested to call out thirteen thousand 
militia to serve until April first. This request was promptly 
complied with. Four days after this it was discovered that 
General Clinton had sailed out of Boston Harbor with four or 
five hundred men, but whether his destination was New York, 
Long Island or the South could not be ascertained. Anticipat- 
ing some such movement of the enemy, Washington had (Jan. 
8th) sent General Lee to Connecticut with orders to collect what 



38 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

troops he could and proceed to New York for the purpose of 
putting the city in a proper state of defense. 

On the 16th of February, the ice having frozen sufficiently 
for troops to cross on from Cambridge and Roxbury to Boston, 
Washington submitted to a Council of War whether an imme- 
diate assault should not be made, but he was overruled on the 
ground that the army was still too weak, and deficient in arms 
and ammunition, and recommended instead that steps be taken 
to fortify Dorchester Heights. Preparations were accordingly 
commenced. On the evening of Monday, March 4, under 
cover of a heavy bombardment, the Heights were occupied and 
intrenchments thrown up, the discovery of which the next 
morning produced the greatest consternation among the enemy. 
The hurrying of officers and the rapid assembling of troops 
indicated an intention to attack without delay, but nothing 
definite was done until evening when Lord Percy embarked with 
a large force for the Castle from which a landing could be made 
on Dorchester Neck. A violent storm coming up at the critical 
moment frustrated his plans and compelled him to return to the 
city. Before another attempt could be made, the Works had 
been made so strong that to carry them was hopeless, and yet 
to hold the city unless they were carried, would be impossible. 
Perceiving this, a Council of War advised immediate evacua- 
tion. To hasten the movements of the enemy, Washington on 
the night of the 16th, took possession of Nook's Hill which com- 
manded the road over Roxbury Neck into Boston, and there 
erected a battery. The sight of this new danger caused the 
British to embark precipitately. Before ten o'clock on the 
morning of Sunday, the 17th of March, the whole army was on 
board the transports and on their way down the Harbor. As 
the British moved out, the Americans marched in, the troops in 
Roxbury over the Neck, those in Cambridge coming over in 
boats, and occupied the city. The fleet was delayed at Nan- 
tasket Roads until the 27th, when the whole got under way and 
stood out to sea. Thus ingloriously for the British ended the 
siege of Boston. Never again during the war, except as a 
prisoner, would a redcoat be seen within the bounds of 
Massachusetts. 



CHAPTER VI 

The Army in New York. The Hickey Plot. Arrival of Gen- 
eral Howe. Parsons Promoted Brigadier General. Sent 
TO Reinforce the Brooklyn Lines. The British Prepare to 
Attack. 

April — September, 1776 

The destination of the British fleet, unknown at the time of its 
leaving Nantasket on the 27th, proved to be Hahfax in Nova 
Scotia, to which, as Howe gave out, he went from Boston " for 
refreshment and that he might have an opportunity to exercise 
his troops in line." Boston having been relieved, Washington 
turned his attention to New York. Deeming it of the utmost 
importance " to prevent the enemy from taking possession of 
New York and the North River, as they would thereby com- 
mand the country and the communications with Canada," he 
had early in January, dispatched General Lee eastward with 
instructions to get together such volunteers as could be quickly 
assembled, and " put the city in the best posture of defense 
which the season and circumstances would admit." By the 
middle of March about four thousand troops had been collected 
in New York and arrangements were in progress for moving 
the whole army there by the way of Norwich, New London and 
the Sound, as soon as Boston should be evacuated. In antici- 
pation of this event. Hand's Rifle Regiment and three com- 
panies of Virginia riflemen had been marched southward on the 
14th. On the 18th, the day after the evacuation, Heath with 
five regiments was ordered to New York. On the 29th, six more 
were sent under General Sullivan, and Greene with the Third 
Brigade marched, April first. On the 4th, Spencer left Rox- 
bury with the last brigade, consisting of Parsons', Hunting- 
ton's, Webb's and Wyllys' regiments, and reached Norwich in 
time to embark on the return transports which carried Sulli- 
van's brigade to New York. Three of these regiments, his 

39 



40 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

own, Huntington's and Wyllys', marched under Parsons' im- 
mediate command, as appears from the following order: — 

3d day of April, 1776. 
Marchins orders to Colonel Parsons, commanding the 10th, 17th 

and 23d Regiments of Foot: 

You are to proceed with the regiments under your command, to 
Norwich in Connecticut. In case of extremely bad weather or 
other unforeseen accident, and you are obliged to halt a day or more 
between this place and Norwich, you will acquaint Brigadier 
General Spencer, who is appointed to the command of the brigade 
now under marching orders, and receiye his directions. 

His Excellency expects you to preserye good order and discipline 
upon your march, carefully preyenting all pillaging and marauding 
and other kinds of ill-usage and insult to the inhabitants of the 
country, as the situation of the enemy and the advanced season of 
the year, make it of the utmost consequence that not a moment shall 
be lost that can be properly made use of on your march. 

The General, confiding in your zeal, experience and good con- 
duct, is satisfied that no vigilance will be wanting on your part. 

On the -ith, Washington liimself, accompanied by his suite, 
left Cambridge. Overtaking Greene's brigade at Providence, 
its two crack regiments, Hitchcock's and Little's, were " ordered 
to turn out to escort his Excellency into town, to parade at 
eight o'clock, both officers and men dressed in uniform, and none 
to turn out except those dressed in uniform, and those of the 
non-commissioned officers and soldiers that turn out, to be 
washed, both face and hands, clean, their beards shaved, their 
hair combed and powdered, and their arms cleaned. The 
General wishes to pay the honors to the Commander-in-Chief in 
as decent and respectable a manner as possible." 

The bit of realistic painting for which Greene's minute 
directions furnish the materials, find its counterpart in the 
following order issued in January by General Howe to his 
soldiers in Boston: — 

" The commanding officer is surprised to find the necessity of 
repeating orders that long since ought to have been complied with, 
as the men in all duties appear in the following manner, viz: — hair 
not smooth and badly powdered; several without slings to their 



\ 



\ 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 41 

firelocks ; hats not bound ; pouches in a shameful and dirty condi- 
tion; no frills to their shirts, and their linen very dirty; leggings 
hanging in a slovenly manner about their knees; some men without 
uniform stocks and their arms and accouterments by no means so 
clean as they ought to be. These unsoldierlike neglects must be 
immediately remedied." 

Washington arrived in New York the 13th of April with his 
military family, but it was not until the 24th that the last of 
the Boston regiments arrived. Five of them had been left in 
charge of the defenses ; only twenty-one of the twenty-seven 
Continental regiments were brought on to New York. With 
the exception of the First Regiment, or the Pennsylvania Rifle- 
men, the whole twenty-seven regiments were from the New 
England States. 

The troops at this time in New York, ten thousand two 
hundred and thirty-five in number according to the Adjutant 
General's return of April 28th, were formed into four brigades 
under Heath, Spencer, Greene and Stirling. Sullivan with six 
regiments had been sent to the Northern Department. Heath's 
brigade was posted on the Hudson just above the present 
Canal Street ; Spencer's on the East River near the intersection 
of Madison and Rutgers Streets ; Stirling's on the Bowery and 
Greene's in Brooklyn. The urgent business of the army at 
this time was fortifying against the expected attack of the 
British. In Brooklyn a line of intrenchments was thrown up 
extending from Wallabout Bay to Gowanus Creek, reinforced 
by four considerable forts or redoubts. The work in the 
trenches proved so begriming to the soldiers, and so inadequate 
was the ordinary allowance of soap to efface the stains of Long 
Island clay, that Greene, no less careful of the appearance of 
his troops than when he issued his characteristic order of April 
4, besought Washington, as a matter of simple justice to the 
men to double their supply of soap. 

In New York a series of forts were constructed commencing 
with the Grenadier Battery on the Hudson near Harrison 
Street, and running around the lower end of the city and up 
the East River to beyond Corlears Hook. Spencer's Redoubt 
at the intersection of Monroe and Rutgers Streets and the 
larger star redoubt between Clinton and Montgomery Streets, 



42 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

were built by Spencer's brigade, Parsons' regiment doubtless 
having a share in the construction. Besides the Works along 
the rivers, numerous batteries and barricades were scattered 
through the city while a considerable fleet of small vessels was 
collected to patrol the harbor. 

In the latter part of June, what was known as the " Hickey 
Plot " was discovered. An attempt had been made to enlist 
several American soldiers belonging to the artillery, to blow up 
the magazines and spike the cannon, and also one or two of 
Washington's Life Guards who, upon the first engagement, 
were to assassinate Washington and the other general officers. 
" The matter was traced up to Governor Tryon, and Mayor 
Matthews of the city appears to have been a principal agent 
between him and the persons concerned in it." Among the 
soldiers implicated was Thomas Hickey of the Life Guards, who 
was tried by a court-martial held at Headquarters in New 
York, June 26, by warrant of General Washington, Colonel 
Samuel Holden Parsons, president, and twelve other officers 
comprising the court. The charge was " that being a private 
sentinel in the commander-in-chief's guard, he was accused of 
exciting and joining in a mutiny and sedition, and of treacher- 
ously corresponding with, enlisting among and receiving pay 
from, the enemy of the United American Colonies." By the 
unanimous judgment of the court, Hickey was found guilty 
The General approved the sentence and ordered that he be 
hanged on the 28th at eleven o'clock ; and " that all the officers 
and men off duty belonging to General Heath's, Spencer's, 
Lord Stirling's and General Scott's brigades, be under arms on 
their respective parades at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, to 
march from thence to the ground between General Spencer's 
and Lord Stirling's encampments, to attend the execution of 
the above sentence. . . . The Provost Marshal immediately 
to make the necessary preparations, and to attend on that duty 
to-morrow. . . . Each of the brigade majors to furnish the 
Provost Marshal with twenty men from each brigade, with good 
arms and bayonets as a guard on the prisoner to and at the 
place of execution." The letters of the period describe the 
excitement and horror produced by the discovery of the plot. 

On the 9th of July the army was paraded to hear read the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 43 

Declaration of Independence. The day ended with pulhng 
down the equestrian statue of George III. in BowHng Green 
and sending the lead of which it was made to Litchfield, Connec- 
ticut, where the patriotic ladies of that town moulded it into 
bullets for the use of the American army. 

The last of June a fleet of one hundred and thirty sail 
arrived off Sandy Hook with General Howe and his Boston 
armj^ and landed on Staten Island. During July the trans- 
ports and ships of war in the harbor, which brought additional 
troops, increased to nearly three hundred in number, and a 
little later to four hundred. On the 1st of August Clinton 
and Comwallis arrived unexpectedly from the South, and on 
the 12th came Howe's last division including Heister's 
Hessians. 

August 9th, Congress, in response to Washington's request 
for more general officers, appointed Heath, Spencer, Sullivan 
and Greene, major generals, and James Reed, Nixon, St. Clair, 
McDougall, Parsons and James Clinton, brigadier generals. 
The following letter enclosing his commission was received by 
Parsons from his college mate, John Hancock, President of 
Congress : 

Philadelphia^ Aug, 10, 1776. 

Sir. — The Congress having yesterday been pleased to promote 
you to the rank of Brigadier General in the Army of the American 
States, I do myself the pleasure to enclose your commission and 
wish you happy. 

John Hancock, 
To Saml. H olden Parsons. Prest. 

General Parsons was assigned to the command of Spencer's 
old brigade, composed of Huntington's, Wyllys', Durkee's and 
Tyler's Connecticut regiments and Ward's Massachusetts regi- 
ment, about twenty-five hundred in all, and all Continental 
troops. Spencer's division was made up of Parsons' and 
Wadsworth's brigades, the latter composed of seven regiments 
of miHtia, and was posted along the East River. 

While the army was in New York, numerous letters passed 
between General Parsons and John Adams, his old college 
friend, then in Congress, relative to the principles which should 
govern appointments in the army, and to the qualifications of 



^( 



44 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the applicants for commissions. The two following very char- 
acteristic letters have been preserved among the Parsons 
papers : — 

Philadelphia, June 22d, 1776. 

Dear Sir. — Your obliging letter of the third of June has been 
too long unanswered. I acknowledge the difficulty in ascertaining 
the comparative merits of officers and the danger of advancing 
friends where there is no uncommon merit. This danger cannot 
be avoided by any other means than making it an invariable rule 
to promote officers in succession, for if you make a King the judge 
of uncommon merit, he will advance favorites without merit under 
color or pretence of it. If you make a INIinister of State the 
judge, he will naturally promote his relatives, connections and 
friends. 

If you place the power of judging of extraordinary merit in an 
assembly, you don't mend the matter much, for by all the ex- 
perience I have had, I find that assemblies have favorites as well 
as Kings and ministers. The favorites of assemblies and of the 
leading members, are not always the most worthy. I don't know 
whether they ever are. The leading members have sons, brothers 
and cousins, acquaintances, friends and connections of one sort 
or another, near or remote, and I have ever found these leading 
members of assemblies as much under the influence of nature and 
her passions and prejudices as Kings and ministers; at least, the 
exceptions are few and the difference little. The principle ad- 
vantage and difference lies in this, that, in an assembly, there are 
more guards and checks upon the infirmities of leading men than 
upon Kings and ministers. What then shall we say.^* Shall we 
leave it to the general and the army? Is there not as much 
favoritism, as much nature, passion and prejudice in the army as 
in an assembly; at Headquarters as in a Court; in a general as in 
a King or minister? 

Upon the whole, I believe it wisest to depart from the line of 
succession as seldom as possible, but I cannot think that the power 
of promotion should never deviate from it at all. Though liable 
to abuses everywhere, yet I assist in the business in the assembly. 
But in our American Army, as that is circumstanced, it is as diffi- 
cult to settle a rule of succession as a criterion of merit. We have 
troops in every Province from Georgia to New Hampshire. A 
colonel is killed in New Hampshire; the next colonel to him in the 
American Army is in Georgia. ]\Iust we send the colonel from 
Georgia to command the regiment in New Hampshire? Upon his 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 45 

journey he is seized with a fever and dies. The next colonel is in 
Canada. We must then send to Canada for a colonel to go to 
Portsmouth, and as the colonel next to him is in South Carolina, 
we must send a colonel from thence to Canada to command that 
regiment. These marches and countermarches must run through 
all the corps of officers and will occasion such inextricable per- 
plexities, delays and uncertainties, that we will not hesitate to 
pronounce it impracticable and ruinous. Shall we say then that 
succession shall take place among the officers of every distant army, 
or in every distant department. My own private opinion is that 
we shall never be quite right until every colony is permitted to raise 
their own troops and the rule of succession is established among 
the officers of the colony. This, where there are troops of several 
colonies serving in the same camp, may be liable to some incon- 
veniences, but these will be fewer than upon any other plan you 
can adopt. It is right, I believe, to make the rule of promotion 
among captains and subalterns, regimental only, and that among 
field officers, more general. But the question is, how general it 
shall be — shall it extend to the whole American Army or only to 
the whole district or department, or . only to the separate portion 
of the Army serving at a particular place. 

That it is necessary to enlist an army to serve during the war or, 
at least, for a longer period than one year, and to offer some hand- 
some encouragement for that end, I have been convinced a long 
time. I would make this temptation to consist partly in money, 
partly in land, and considerable in both. It has been too long 
delayed, but I think it will now be soon done. What is the reason 
that New York must continue to embarrass the continent.^ Must 
it be so forever? What is the cause of it? And have they no 
politicians capable of instructing and forming the sentiments of 
their people? or are their people incapable of seeing and feeling 
like other men ? One would think that their proximity to New 
England would assimilate their opinions and principles. One 
would think too that the Army would have some influence upon them, 
but it seems to have none. New York is likely to have the honor 
of being the very last of all in imbibing the general principles and 
the true system of American policy. Perhaps she will never enter- 
tain them at all. 

I am with much respect. 

Your friend and servant, 

John Adams. 

P. S. — Since the above was written, a bount}^ of ten dollars for 
three years is voted. I am ashamed of it, but cannot help it. 



46 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Philadelphia, August 19, 1776. 
Dear Sir. — Your favors of the 13th and 15th are before me. 
The gentlemen you recommend for Majors, Chapman and Dyer, 
will be recommended by the Board of War and I hope agreed to 
in Congress. I thank you for your observations upon certain field 
officers. Patterson, Shepherd and Brooks make the best figure, I 
think, upon paper. It is my misfortune that I have not the least 
acquaintance with any of these gentlemen, having never seen any 
one of them or heard his name till lately. This is a little re- 
markable. Few persons in the Province ever traveled over it, the 
whole of it, more than I have, or had better opportunities to know 
every conspicuous character. But I don't so much as know from 
what parts of the Province Shepherd and Brooks come, of what 
families they are, their education or employments. I should be 
very glad to be informed. Lt. Col. Henshaw has been recommended 
to me by Col. Reed for promotion as a useful officer. But upon 
the whole, I think the list you have given me don't shine. I am 
much ashamed of it. I am so vexed sometimes as almost to resolve 
to make interest to be a colonel myself. I have almost vanity 
enough to think that I could make a figure in such a group. But 
a treacherous, shattered constitution is an eternal objection against 
my aspiring at military command. If it was not for this insuperable 
difficulty, I should certainly imitate old Nol Cromwell in one 
particular, that is in launching into military life after forty, as 
much as I dislike his character and example in others. I wish I 
could find materials anywhere in sufficient quantities to make good 
officers. A brave and able man, wherever he is, shall never want my 
vote for his advancement, nor shall an ignorant, awkward dastard 
ever want it for liis dismission. Congress must assume a higher 
tone of discipline over officers, as well as those, over their men. 
With regard to encouragements in money and lands for soldiers 
to enlist during the war, I have ever been in favor of it as the best 
economy and the best policy, and I have no doubt that rewards in 
land will be given after the war is over, but the majority are not 
of my mind for promising it now. I am the less anxious about it, 
however, for a reason which does not seem to have much weight 
with the majority, although it may cost us more and we may put 
now and then a battle to a hazard by the method we are in, yet we 
shall be less in danger of corruption and violence from a standing 
army, and our militia will acquire courage, experience, discipline 
and hardiness in actual service. I wish every man upon the con- 
tinent were a soldier and obliged upon occasion to fight, and de- 
termined to conquer or die. Flight was unknown to the Romans; 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 47 

I wish it was to Americans. There was a flight from Quebec and 
worse than a flight from the Cedars. If we don't atone for this 
disgrace, we are undone. A more exalted love of country, a more 
enthusiastic ardor for military glory and a deeper detestation, dis- 
dain and horror of martial disgrace, must be excited among our 
people, or we shall perish in infamy. I will certainly give my voice 
for devoting to the infernal gods every man, high or low, who shall 
be convicted of bashfulness in the day of battle. 

I am affectionately yours, 

John Adams. 
To General Parsons. 

P. S. — Since the above was written. Congress has accepted the 
report of the Board of War and appointed Dyer and Chapman 
Majors. I had much pleasure in promoting Dyer, not only from 
his own excellent character, but from respect to my good friend, 
his father. 

Both Dyer and Chapman were Majors in Parsons' brigade. 
August 4, 1776, Adams wrote to General Greene on the 
same subject, as follows: — 

A general officer ought to be a gentleman of letters and general 
knowledge, a man of address and knowledge of the world. He 
should carry with him authority and command. There are among 
the New England officers gentlemen who are equal to all this ; 
Parsons, Hitchcock, Varnum and others younger than they and 
inferior to them too in command; but these are a great ways down 
in the list of colonels, and to promote them over the heads of so 
many veterans, would throw all into confusion. . . . Name 
me a New England colonel of whose real qualifications I can speak 
with confidence, who is entitled to promotion by succession, and if 
I do not get him made a general officer, I will join the New Eng- 
land colonels in their jealousy and outclamor the loudest of them. 

Greene, in his own letter to Adams, to which this is a reply, 
referring to the arrival of the Howes and the large force under 

their command, makes this somewhat extraordinary remark : 

" I wrote you some time past, I thought you were playing a 
desperate game. I think so still." The next year he con- 
tinued to write in the same tone and repeated that " the game 
was desperate, though this would make no difference in his 
resolution to see it out." 



48 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

On the 27th of August, the British Army numbered about 
thirty-one thousand men, of whom twenty-four thousand were 
effectives. This Army included nearly every one of England's 
veteran regiments, besides about eight thousand Hessians, and 
was perfectly equipped and ably officered. Washington's 
Army aggregated about twenty-eight thousand five hundred 
officers and men, between eight and nine thousand of whom 
were unfit or unavailable for duty, thus leaving but about nine- 
teen thousand effectives, most of whom were raw troops, poorly 
armed and equipped, and commanded very largely by inexperi- 
enced officers. The sick were very numerous. Heath writes 
under date of August 8, that they then amounted to 
nearly ten thousand ; and Parsons, on the 4th, writes to Colonel 
Little : — " My doctor and mate are sick. I have nearly two 
hundred men sick in camp ; my neighbors are in very little 
better state." 

It was well understood that Howe was nearly ready to attack, 
but at what point was wholly uncertain until the morning of 
the 22d, when fifteen thousand of his troops were landed on 
Long Island. So soon as the landing was accomplished, Corn- 
wallis occupied Flatbush with the Reserves, the main body 
encamping on the plains between Flatbush and the Narrows. 

Fearing an immediate attack, Washington the same day rein- 
forced the Brooklyn lines with six regiments. On the 24th, he 
sent over three regiments from Parsons' brigade — Hunting- 
ton's, Wyllys' and Tyler's — and on the next day the two 
remaining regiments, Durkee's and Ward's. Brigadier Lord 
Stirling crossed the same day, half his brigade having preceded 
him. Unfortunately, General Greene w^as at this time stricken 
with the prevailing fever, and, being seriously ill, General 
Sullivan, who had recently returned from Canada, was ordered 
to take command on Long Island. On the 24th, he was super- 
seded by Putnam, his senior officer, but nevertheless remained 
in an active, though subordinate command. By General Put- 
nam's order of the 25th, a provisional arrangement of the 
troops then on the Island was made, under which the regiments 
of Huntington, Wyllys, Tyler, Silliman, Chester, Gay and 
Ward were placed under the command of General Parsons. 
Pursuant to Washington's instructions, a brigadier of the day 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 49 

was to be detailed, " who should remain constantly upon the 
lines that he may be upon the spot to take command and see 
that orders are duly executed." General Nixon was assigned 
to this duty for the 24th; General Lord Stirling for the 25th 
and General Parsons for the 26th, so that it was his fortune to 
open the battle of Long Island. 

During the whole of the 26th, Washington was on the 
Island with Putnam, Sullivan and other officers, visiting the 
outposts and reconnoitering the position of the enemy, but 
nothing was observed indicating the storm which broke so sud- 
denly and disastrously on the morrow. 



CHAPTER VII 

The Battle of Long Island. Retreat to New York. 

August, 1776 

A RIDGE of broken hills from forty to eighty feet in height, 
extending from the Narrows easterly through the center of 
Long Island towards the village of Jamaica, separated the 
plain on which the British Army was encamped from the 
Brooklyn lines. This ridge was covered with a dense forest 
and presented an impassable barrier to artillery except at four 
passes or natural depressions in the hills, through which roads 
had been constructed. The Flatbush Pass near the main 
entrance to Prospect Park, a mile and a half from the Brooklyn 
lines, was crossed by the main road leading from Flatbush to 
the Brooklyn, now Fulton, Ferry. The Jamaica Pass, about 
four miles easterly from the lines, was crossed by the road 
from Jamaica, which, running through the village of Bedford, 
connected with the Ferry road about a mile towards the Ferry 
from the Flatbush Pass. A short distance from the inter- 
section of these two roads, the Gowanus Road branched south- 
erly, running south of the Gowanus Creek to the village and 
bay of that name, and thence by the Red Lion tavern to the 
Narrows. From the tavern the Martense Lane led through a 
gorge on the south side of the present Greenwood Cemetery 
and connected with the roads south of the ridge. A road from 
Bedford to Flatbush ran through the Bedford Pass. South 
of the ridge several roads crossed the plain connecting Flat- 
lands with the Jamaica Road east of the Jamaica Pass. 

On the 26th, additional troops were sent over from New 
York, raising the total force of the Americans on the Island 
to about seven thousand effective men. Of these, three regi- 
ments and a battery held the Flatbush Pass ; Wyllys' and Ches- 
ter's regiments of Parsons' brigade held the Bedford Pass; 

50 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 51 

Stirling with his Marylanders guarded the coast road ; Colonel 
Miles looked after the Jamaica Road and a detail of five 
mounted officers patrolled the entrance to the Jamaica Pass. 
The remainder of the force, about forty-two hundred men, were 
posted along the Brooklyn lines. 

On the 25th, De Heister, with two Hessian brigades, crossed 
from Staten Island, increasing Howe's army on Long Island 
to twenty-one thousand men, three times the effective force of 
the Americans. On the evening of the 26th, silently and 
secretly commenced the well-planned movement intended to over- 
whelm Washington and his army. A flanking column of ten 
thousand men under Clinton, Cornwallis, Percy and Howe, was 
to gain the Jamaica Pass by a circuitous route of nine miles 
over the cross roads from Flatlands, and, advancing by the 
Jamaica and Gowanus Roads, interpose itself between the 
American outposts and the Brooklyn lines, thus cutting off 
their retreat. While this movement was in progress, De Heis- 
ter was to engage the attention of the guard at the Flatbush 
Pass, and Grant, advancing from the Narrows along the coast 
road with seven thousand men, was to hold the guard at this 
point by a feint of attacking until the movement on their right 
should have sufficiently developed, when he was to attack in 
earnest. 

The first collision took place on the Narrows Road at about 
two o'clock in the morning, when Grant's vanguard struck the 
American pickets, who fell back after an exchange of fire 
without checking the enemy. A report of this was taken by 
some of the guard " at the first dawn of day " to General 
Parsons, who, as the brigadier on duty, commanded the out- 
posts, and also to General Putnam at his Quarters in the lines. 
Parsons immediately rode to the spot and " found by fair day- 
light that the enemy were through the woods and descending 
the hill on the north side, upon which with twenty of his fugi- 
tive guard, all he could collect, he took post on a height in 
their front at about half a mile's distance, which halted their 
column and gave time to Lord Stirling with his forces to come 
up." In front of the British was a low, marshy piece of 
ground, on the opposite side of which was a considerable eleva- 
tion over which Stirling formed his line of battle, his right 



52 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

resting on the bay road and his left on the woods in Greenwood 
Cemetery. Grant, seeing this, disposed his forces as if about 
to attack. Finding that the British were overlapping his left, 
Stirling directed Parsons to take Atlee's regiment and Hunt- 
ington's of his own brigade, both of which Parsons had sent 
forward, and extend his line still further into the woods. Here 
for the first time was an American and British line of battle 
opposed in the open field, but Stirling had only sixteen hundred 
men with which to withstand the seven thousand of Grant. It 
was now seven o'clock, but the flanking movement was still 
in progress, so that the time had not yet arrived for Grant to 
attack in force. Stirling, however, was not aware of this and 
kept up a brisk skirmishing all along the line for two hours. 

As Parsons' two regiments moved to the left, " a hill of clear 
ground " was seen at a little distance well situated for watching 
the enemy. Nearing the hill, the British were seen also march- 
ing to seize it. Observing this. Parsons hurried Atlee forward, 
but the enemy arriving first poured a volley into his ranks 
which caused his men to waver for a moment, but rallying them 
quickly and leading the advance, with orders " to reserve their 
fire and aim aright," he pushed forward with so much resolu- 
tion and with such well-directed fire, that the enemy fell back 
leaving twelve killed and a lieutenant and four privates 
wounded. Parsons' whole force now occupied the hill and 
awaited the further movements of the British. In half an hour 
the enemy formed for another attack, but again Atlee's and 
Huntington's men opened on them, and for a second time com - 
pelled them to retreat with the loss of Lieut. Colonel Grant of 
the 40th Regiment, whose fall gave rise to the report that the 
Division Commander himself had been killed. By this time Par- 
sons' men had exhausted their ammunition, but fortunately 
Huntington's ammunition wagon coming on to the field just 
then, they were able to refill their cartridge boxes against a 
third attack which was threatened with the assistance of the 
42d Highlanders. But the enemy remained quiet, and Parsons 
and his men continued in possession of the hill. 

The flanking column reached Bedford at about half after 
eight in the morning, having captured on the wa}^ the patrol 
at the Jamaica Pass and thus prevented early notice of the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 53 

movement to the Americans. JNliles, marching through the 
woods, unexpectedly ran into the British column on the 
Jamaica Road and was taken with many of his men, but half his 
regiment made good its escape. Wyllys and Chester at the 
Bedford Pass, discovering the enemy at Bedford in their rear, 
promptly retreated and reached the lines with little loss. While 
the enemy was at Bedford, Sullivan, ignorant of the fact, Avent 
from the lines " to the hill near Flatbush to reconnoiter the 
enemy," and with four hundred of the picket guard was caught 
between the flanking colunm and the advancing Hessians, but 
Henshaw and Cornell escaping the trap, brought in their regi- 
ments in safety and good order. 

The day had been lost on the American left and center and 
Cornwallis was now marching down the Gowanus Road to crush 
Stirling between his brigades and Grant's. Seeing his danger, 
Stirling ordered his men to make their way the best they could 
across the Gowanus Creek and marsh, while to protect their 
retreat he vigorously attacked the British with half his INIary- 
landers, nearly all of whom with himself were taken prisoners 
in their effort to save the rest of the command. When Stirling 
fell back from Grant's front in order to attack Cornwallis, he 
failed to send notice of the movement to Parsons whom he had 
" ordered to maintain his ground till receipt of his orders to 
retreat." Hearing the heavy firing in his rear and receiving no 
orders to retreat and " finding the enemy by rallying to 
increase on his hands, Parsons flew to the place where Lord 
Stirling was posted, leaving his party on the ground with strict 
orders to maintain it till his return, but found his Lordship 
and his whole body of troops gone." Pushed in front by Grant, 
his retreat along the road or across the marsh cut off^ by Corn- 
wallis, " he had no alternative left but to force his way through 
one line into a thick wood which he eff'ected with part of his 
men," not over three hundred in number, who soon broke up into 
small parties and tried to escape through the woods, but were 
nearly all taken. Atlee with twenty-three men avoided capture 
until late in the afternoon, while Parsons, more fortunate, was 
able to conceal himself in a marsh whence with seven men he 
escaped to our lines the next morning. The hill in Greenwood 
Cemetery which Parsons is supposed to have seized and held 



64^ LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

against the British, is now known as " Battle Hill " and is 
marked by a soldiers' monument. Some of the hardest fighting 
of the day was on this spot, and the enemy suffered more 
severely here than at any other one point in the whole range 
of five miles over which the battle was fought. In Parsons* 
front were counted upwards of sixty of the enemy's dead, and 
" the four regiments alone which at different times encountered 
Parsons, the 17th, 23d, 42d and 44th, lost in the aggregate 
eighty-six officers and men killed and wounded." 

The total American loss in the battle, according to the best 
authorities, did not exceed one thousand, of whom not over two 
hundred and fifty were killed or wounded, being one hundred 
less than the casualties of the enemy whose total loss was about 
the same as ours. 

The two following letters describing the battle were written 
by General Parsons to his college friend, John Adams, then a 
delegate in Congress, the originals of which in 1878 were in 
possession of Charles Francis Adams and are included in the 
documents accompanying Johnston's " Campaign around New 
York:" 

Long Island, 29th Aug., 1776. 

Dear Sir. — . . . Before this reaches you the account of the 
battle of Tuesday last will arrive — 'tis impossible to be particular 
in a narrative of the matter as many are yet missing, who we may 
hope to come in. In the night of the 26th, nine regiments of the 
English troops, perhaps about 2,500, with Field artillery, &c., 
passed the Western road near the Narrows from the flat land, for 
our lines. We had a guard of 400 or 500 men posted in the wood, 
who about three o'clock Tuesday morning gave notice of the 
enemy's approach, a body of about 1,500 men. We immediately 
marched down to oppose the progress of the enemy. We took pos- 
session of a hill about two miles from camp and detached Col. 
Atlee with a Reg't. of Delaware to meet them further on the road; 
in about 60 rods he drew up & received the enemy's fire & gave 
them a well directed fire from his Reg't., which did great execu- 
tion & then retreated to the hill; from thence I was ordered with 
Col. Atlee & part of his Reg't. & Lt. Col. Clark with Col. Hunting- 
ton's Reg't. to cover the left flank of our main body. 

This we executed though our number did at no time exceed 300 
men & were attacked three several times by two Regiments, the 44th 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 55 

& 23d, and repulsed them in every attack with considerable loss. 
The number of dead we had collected together & the heap the enemy 
had made we supposed amounted to about 60. We had 12 or 14 
wounded prisoners who we caused to be dress'd & their wounds put 
in the best state our situation would admit. About 10 o'clock we 
found a large body of the enemy had advanced on the other roads 
near our lines, but a constant fire was kept up on the enemy till 
about 12, when we found them fast advancing on our rear to cut 
off our retreat. Our little main body advanced boldly up to the 
enemy in the rear & broke through their lines and secured the retreat 
of most of the party; but it fared still harder with my little party 
who had three times repulsed the enemy in front and once in the 
rear; we had no notice of the retreat of the main body till it was 
too late for us to join them, the enemy having cut off our retreat 
on three sides & the main body having broke through the enemy's 
lines on the other side and left them between us. We had no alter- 
native left but force through one line into a thick wood, which we 
attempted & effected with part of our men, the other part with Col. 
Clark being before sent into the wood. When we had made our way 
into the wood, I was accidentally parted from Col. Atlee & most 
of the men, whom I have never seen since. I came in with 7 men, 
yesterday morning much fatigued. Our loss is impossible to be 
ascertained. In my party a Lt. Col. Parry was killed and one 
wounded. Our loss in killed and wounded is inconsiderable, but 
many are missing, among whom are General Sullivan and Lord 
Stirling, Colonels Miles, Atlee, Johnson, Lt. Col. Clark, Maj. 
Wells & several other officers of distinction are yet missing. I think 
the trial of that day far from being any discouragement, but in 
general our soldiers behaved with firmness. 

I am sir, with esteem and regard 
Yr. Humble Svt. 
To John Adams in Congress. Sam'l. H. Parsons. 

MORRISANIA, Oct. 8, 1776. 
Dear Sir. — Your's of the 2d inst. I rec'd last night, for which 
I am obliged to you. If any information I can give will contribute 
to your satisfaction or my country's good I am happy in furnishing 
what falls under my observation. I agree fully with you that you 
were in the dark as to some facts relative to the transactions on 
Long Island, & am fully satisfied that you still remain so, or you 
would not suppose the surprise there was in the daytime. To give 
you a clear idea of the matter, I must trouble you with a descrip- 
tion of that part of the country where the enemy landed and en- 



56 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

camped and the intervening lands between that and our lines. From 
the point of land which forms the east side of the Narrows, runs a 
ridge of hills about N. E. in length about 5 or 6 miles, covered with 
a thick wood which terminates in a small rising land near Jamaica ; 
through these hills are three passes only, one near the Narrows, 
one on the road called the Flatbush road & one called the Bedford 
road, being a cross road from Bedford to Flatbush which lies on 
the southerly side of these hills ; these passes are, through the moun- 
tains or hills, easily defensible, being very narrow and the lands 
high and mountainous on each side. These are the only roads 
which can be passed from the south side the hill to our lines, except 
a road leading around the easterly end of the hills to Jamaica. On 
each of these roads were placed a guard of 800 men, and east of 
them in the wood was placed Col Miles with his Battalion to watch 
the motion of the enemy on that part, with orders to keep a party 
constantly reconnoitering to and across the Jamaica road. The sen- 
tinels were so placed as to keep a constant communication between 
the three guards on the three roads. South of these hills lies a lartre 
plain extending from the North River easterly to Rockaway B-'y 
perhaps 5 miles & southerly to the sound bounded on the south by 
the sound and on the north by the hills. Those hills were from two 
to three miles and a half from our lines. The enemy landed on 
this plain & extended their camp from the River to Flatbush, per- 
haps 3 or 4 miles. On the day of the surprise I was on duty, and 
at the first dawn of day the guards from the West road near the 
Narrows, came to my quarters & informed me the enemy were 
advancing in great numbers b}' that road. I soon found it true & 
that the whole guard had fled without firing a gun; these (by way 
of retaliation I must tell you) were all New Yorkers & Pennsyl- 
vanians ; I found by fair daylight the enemy were through the wood 
& descending the hill on the North side, on which with 20 of my 
fugitive guard being all I could collect, I took post on a height in 
their front at about half a mile's distance, which halted their column 
& gave time for Lord Stirling with his forces to come up; thus 
much for the West road. On the east next Jamaica, Col. Miles 
suffered the enemy to march not less than 6 miles till they came 
near two miles in the rear of the guards before he discovered and 
gave notice of their approach. This also was in the night & the 
guard kept by the Pennsylvanians altogether — the New England 
and New Jersey troops being in the other two roads through which 
the enemy did not attempt to pass. 

We were surprised — our principal barrier lost by that surprise, 
but as far as the cover of the night is an excuse we have it. The 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 57 

landing of the troops could not be prevented at the distance of 6 or 
7 miles from our lines ; on a plain under the cannon of the ships, 
just in with the shore. Our unequal numbers would not admit 
attacking them on the plain when landed. 

When our principal barrier was lost, our numbers so much inferior 
to the enemy, they not disposed to storm our lines, but set down to 
make regular approaches to us — were part of the reasons which 
induced a retreat from thence and a consequent abandoning of New 
York. Our sentinels and guards in my opinion were well posted, 
they might have been better, too great security I thought prevailing 
with some leading officers, but I am still of the opinion, if our 
guards on the West road & Col. Miles on East end of the hills had 
done their duty, the enemy would not have passed those important 
heights, without such very great loss as would have obliged them 
to abandon any further enterprise on the Island. 

I am sir 

Your Most Humble Sv't- 
To John Adams in Congress. Sam'l H. Parsons. 

To secure the Works from assault, Washington on the after- 
noon of the 27th, had increased the force on his lines to nine 
thousand men. Skirmishes were frequent enough and with 
variable success, but Howe showed no disposition to take the 
Works by storm. The Bunker Hill lesson was too fresh in his 
mind. Instead, he commenced regular approaches, and on the 
morning of the 29th completed his first parallel. This forced 
the alternative upon the Americans of either driving the enemy 
from their Works or retreating to New York. As defeat must 
prove disastrous, and, under the unequal conditions, almost cer- 
tain, the enemy being two to one and tlie advantage of fighting 
in trenches being equal to but three to one, and as the fleet was 
waiting only for a favorable wind to run up the East River and 
cut off all communications with New York, the only safety for 
the army was plainly in an immediate withdrawal. 

Late in the day of the 29th a Council of War was held at 
the house of Philip Livingston near the corner of Hicks and 
Joralemon streets, at which were present, General Washington, 
Major Generals Putnam and Spencer, and Brigadier Generals 
Mifflin, McDougall, Parsons, Scott, Wadsworth and Fellows. 
After much discussion, the Council, " convinced by unanswer- 
able reasons," unanimously decided upon an immediate retreat. 



58 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Boats had already been collected. Each regiment was ordered 
to parade at seven o'clock, and, as soon as it was dark, the 
embarkation commenced from the Brooklyn Ferry in the midst 
of a pouring rain. Mifflin and the rear guard did not get off 
until about sunrise, but a dense sea-fog rolling in at early dawn 
enabled them to move without attracting the attention of the 
enemy. Before seven o'clock the entire force had crossed safely 
to New York, having effected one of the most masterly retreats 
on record. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

BusHNELL^s Torpedo. Kip's Bay Affair. Retreat from New 
York. Battle of Harlem Heights. 

Seotember, 1776 

" Upon the rebels abandoning their hnes at Brooklyn," writes 
Sir William Howe to Lord Germain describing the disposition 
of his troops after the battle of Long Island, " the King's 
army moved from Bedford, leaving Lieut. General Heister 
encamped upon the Heights of Brooklyn with two brigades of 
Hessians, and one brigade of British at Bedford, and took five 
positions in the neighborhood of Newtown, Bushwick, Hell Gate 
and Flushing. The two islands of Montressor and Buchanan 
(now Randall's and Ward's) were occupied and batteries raised 
against the enemy's Work at Horn's Hook, commanding the 
passage of Hell Gate." Had boats been at hand to transfer 
these troops to Pell's Point, for which they were conveniently 
posted, Howe might have anticipated his October flank move- 
ment and maneuvered Washington out of New York with little 
loss. 

In the reorganization of the army which followed the retreat 
from Long Island, Parsons' brigade of Continentals, to which 
Prescott's Massachusetts men, who up to this time had gar- 
risoned Governor's Island, had been transferred, was assigned 
to the First Division under Putnam and stationed at Corlears 
Hook. The particular duty of this Division, which besides Par- 
sons' brigade included those of Scott, James Clinton, Fellows 
and Silliman, was to guard the East River up as far as 
Fifteenth Street. The Second Division of six brigades under 
Spencer, continued the line to Horn's Hook and Harlem. The 
Third Division, composed of Mifflin's and George Clinton's 
brigades, under Heath, was stationed at Kingsbridge. About 
five thousand men were left in the city, the main body of the 
army being concentrated around and above Harlem. 

59 



60 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

While the army was yet in New York an interesting incident 
occurred, very disturbing to the British. David Bushnell of 
Saybrook, a student at Yale (1771-1775), who is regarded by 
the best judges as the originator of submarine warfare, had 
while in college perfected a torpedo boat with which he pro- 
posed to blow up the British fleet in New York Harbor. In the 
summer of 1776, he came to New York with his invention to 
try it on the " Asia " man-of-war, but his brother, who was to 
work the boat, falling sick, he applied to General Parsons for 
someone who would be willing to learn the " ways and mystery 
of the new machine and make a trial of it." Parsons sent for 
his brother-in-law. Sergeant Ezra Lee of the 10th Connecticut", 
and two others, volunteers for service in a fireship when 
wanted, to undertake the enterprise. They consented to try 
the machine, and, after experimenting with it up the Sound until 
familiar with its " mysteries," towed it down to New Rochelle 
and carried it overland from there to the Hudson, the East 
River at that time being in possession of the enemy. Septem- 
ber 5, 1776, General Parsons wrote to General Heath in com- 
mand at Kingsbridge: 

Sir. — As the machine designed to attempt blowing up the enemy's 
ships is to be transferred from the East to the North River, where 
a small vessel will be wanted to receive it, I wish you would order 
one for the purpose. As all things are now ready to make the 
experiment, I wish it may not be delayed. Though the event is 
uncertain, the experiment under our present circumstances is cer- 
tainly worth trying. 

I am, Sir, your obedient humble servant, 

Sam'l H. Parsons. 
To Maj. General Heath at Kingsbridge. 

This machine, which is described as turtle shaped and not 
more than seven feet long, was strongly built of oak, the 
sides, six inches thick, well caulked and pitched, with sufficient 
space inside for one person to sit or stand and navigate it. 
The man-hole in the top was closed by a brass door in which 
were bull's-eyes to admit light. The boat was submerged by 
letting in water and brought to the surface by pumping it out, 
or, if the pumps became choked, by letting go part of the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 61 

ballast. The boat was steered by a rudder with a curved tiller 
which entered through a water joint, and was driven, or rather 
drawn, through the water by a rude sort of propeller made by 
crossing at right angles two pieces of wood four inches wide 
and twelve inches long with beveled sides, like the arms of a 
windmill. This was fastened to a shaft piercing the bow 
instead of the stern of the boat, and revolved by means of a 
crank. By hard labor, it was possible with this apparatus to 
make three knots an hour for a short time. This seems to have 
been the earliest application of the screw to the propulsion of 
vessels on record. 

The magazine containing the powder was egg-shaped and 
made of two oak blocks hollowed out and bound with hoops. 
Within it were clockworks which could be set to spring a gun- 
lock at any fixed time after starting the clock, when an explo- 
sion would follow. This contrivance was attached to the stern 
of the boat and could be disengaged by turning a screw. A 
sharp-pointed screw, to which the magazine had been made fast 
by a few feet of line, projected vertically from the top of the 
boat. In attacking a ship, the first thing to be done was to 
drive this screw firmly into the ship's bottom, when, by turning 
the setscrews which held it in place, it would be detached from 
the boat and left in the ship as a fastening for the line to which 
the magazine was tied, so that the magazine, after being 
released from the boat, could not float off beyond the length of 
the line and must at all times remain in close contact with the 
ship's bottom. The moment the magazine was cast off from 
the boat, the clockworks started, and the navigator, to escape 
the explosion, had to pull away with all speed from the ship. 

On the night chosen for the attempt, the machine was towed 
by whale boats as near the " Asia " as it was prudent to go and 
then cast off. Running under the stern of the ship, Lee could 
see the men on deck and hear them talk. Closing the brass door 
in the dome of his craft, he sank so as to come up under the 
ship. Here he worked for two hours endeavoring to fasten 
the screw into the ship's bottom, but the buoyancy of the boat 
was not sufficient to furnish the resistance necessary to enable 
him to penetrate the copper sheathing. Finding that he could 
not succeed and that daylight was approaching when the boats 



62 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

of the fleet would be rowing in all directions, he " thought the 
best generalship was to retreat," as he had four miles to go 
before passing Governor's Island. When abreast the Island, 
he was observed from the parapet of the Fort, and a twelve 
oared barge put out after him. " When it had got within 
fifty or sixty yards," writes the plucky navigator, " I let loose 
the magazine in hopes that if they should take me, they would 
also pick up the magazine and that we should all be blown up 
together; but as a kind Providence would have it, they took 
fright and returned to the Island to my infinite joy. I then 
weathered the Island and our people seeing me, came off in a 
whale boat and towed me in. The magazine, after getting a 
little past the Island, went off with a tremendous explosion." 
According to one, perhaps somewhat exaggerated account* 
" the enemy's ships took the alarm, cut their cables and pro- 
ceeded to the Hook with all possible dispatch, sweeping their 
bottoms with chains and with difficulty preventing their 
affrighted crews from jumping overboard." 

Washington was much interested in the experiment and, with 
other officers in the secret, is said to have watched it from a 
roof in lower Broadway. The evacuation of New York pre- 
vented further experiments in the harbor, but a frigate anchor- 
ing off Bloomingdale soon after, Lee attempted to get under it 
with his machine, but being discovered was obliged to desist. 
Had Lee succeeded in blowing up the " Asia " man-of-war, this 
novel method of warfare would have created such a panic in 
the fleet, that his Majesty's frigates would never have anchored 
in Kip's Bay, and the affair of September 15th and the battle 
of Harlem Heights would never have occurred. 

The retreat from Long Island had left the army badly 
demoralized. The confidence of the troops in their officers and 
in themselves had been severely shaken, and the situation in 
New York was by no means reassuring. They had apparently 
escaped from one trap only to fall into another. The enemy's 
fleet controlled the rivers and flight in that direction was 
impossible. A strong force once landed in their rear, either 
from the North or East River, they would be effectually penned 
in on the Island and obliged to fight on the enemy's terms or 
surrender at discretion. The acknowledged untenableness of 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 63 

the city and the hurrying of the evacuation, added to the 
general uneasiness. So shaky was the morale of the soldiers 
retained in the city that any sudden attack was almost certain 
to create a panic and a rush for a place of safety. 

Washington had hoped to hold the city until he found that 
his troops could not be depended on. Convinced that evacua- 
tion was inevitable, in a letter to Congress, September 2d, he 
submitted this question : " If we should be obliged to abandon 
the town, ought it to stand as winter quarters for the enemy.'"' 
On the 5th, Greene wrote giving it as his opinion, that a general 
and speedy retreat was absolutely necessary and that the city 
and its suburbs should be burned. John Jay, although a New 
Yorker, had already urged its destruction. But Congress sent 
back the answer " that no damage should be done the city, it 
being only a question of time when its possession would be 
recovered." 

The measure proposed was heroic ; had it been carried into 
effect, it might have proved as disastrous to Howe's Army as 
the burning of Moscow did to Napoleon's. A Council of War, 
held on the 7th, reluctant to abandon the city and influenced 
by the supposed wish of Congress, voted to retain five thousand 
troops in the city and post nine thousand at Kingsbridge. 
Not satisfied with the conclusions of the Council and sensible 
of the danger of attempting to hold the city, Major General 
Greene and Brigadiers Mifflin, Nixon, Beale, Parsons, Wads- 
worth and Scott asked for a second Council, which voted on 
the 12th to evacuate the city immediately and retire to Har- 
lem Heights, a decision arrived at not a moment too soon. The 
removal of the baggage and stores, which had been in progress 
for several days, would have been completed on the 15th, by 
which time everything would have been in readiness to abandon 
the city. On the evening of the 14th, Washington, believing 
that Harlem would be the point of attack, removed his Head- 
quarters to Colonel Morris' house on the Heights at One Hun- 
dred and Sixty-first Street, now famous as the Jumel Man- 
sion. A more commanding position he could not have chosen, 
for with the whole course of the Harlem, the Plains, the East 
River and the hills of Long Island in full view, it was possible 
to observe almost every considerable movement of the enemy 



64< LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

towards his left and flank. But it was a strange caprice of 
fortune that this old Colonial dwelling (built in 1758) wl^ich 
Washington made his Headquarters, should have been the 
wedding present of Mary Philipse, his early love ; and that 
its great oval dining-room, where she had so often with her 
loyalist friends drank to the health of King George and the 
confusion of his enemies, should have become the Council 
Chamber of her rebel lover and his generals. 

The Bowery and its continuation, the Post or Kingsbridge 
Road, which ran along the lines of Fourth and Lexington 
Avenues through McGowan's Pass to Kingsbridge, was the 
main road leading from the city to the upper end of the 
Island. At Madison Square, the Bloomingdale Road, the 
present Broadway, branched to the left and ended on Harlem 
Heights not far from the Hudson. These two roads were con- 
nected by a cross road very nearly on the line of Forty-second 
Street. A line of fortifications extended along the East River 
from Grand to Thirty-fourth Street, which were held, those 
at Thirty-fourth Street by Douglas' brigade ; at Twenty- 
third Street, by Wadsworth's ; at Twelfth Street, by Scott's 
and at Grand Street by Parsons'. All these brigades ex- 
cept Parsons' were composed of militia. There was also a 
formidable battery at Horn's Hook opposite Hell Gate, held 
by Chester's and Sargent's brigades, and connected by a chain 
of sentinels with the Works below, which caused Howe to land 
further down the river, instead of at Harlem as he had 
intended. 

On the early morning of Sunday, September 15th, two forty- 
gun ships and three frigates sailed up from Wallabout Bay 
and anchored in Kip's Bay somewhat to the left of Douglas' 
position and within musket shot of the shore, the design being 
to turn the flank of the fortified line. Some four thousand 
British and Hessians under Clinton and Cornwallis, were in the 
meanwhile embarked in eighty-four boats in Newtown Creek. 
" As soon as it was finally light," writes Martin of Douglas' 
brigade, " we saw their boats coming out of a creek on the 
Long Island side of the water filled with British soldiers. When 
they came to the edge of the tide, they formed their boats in 
line and continued to augment their forces until they appeared 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 65 

like a large clover field in full bloom." At about eleven o'clock 
in the morning, the ships suddenly opened on Douglas with 
seventy or eighty guns. The crash was terrific. Martin 
" made a frog's leap for the ditch and laid there as still as he 
possibly could." At the same time the boats pushed off and, 
"getting under cover of the smoke, struck to the left of 
Douglas' line in order to cut off his retreat," and made the 
landing without opposition. The frightened militiamen had 
" kept the lines until they were almost leveled upon them," 
when seeing the British gain the shore, they commenced break- 
ing on the left and soon were all fleeing in the greatest con- 
fusion, panic stricken at the thought of being intercepted. As 
Martin writes, " the demons of fear and disorder seemed to 
take possession of all and every thing that day." But better 
troops would not have endured the concentrated fire of eighty 
guns at close quarters any more patiently than did these Con- 
necticut farmers. 

Leslie's Light Infantry landing first, pushed on after 
Douglas' men who were fleeing helter-skelter up the Post Road, 
which they occupied in force at its junction with Forty-second 
Street. Next came Donop's Hessians, who, marching to the 
left towards Madison Square, intercepted on the way three or 
four hundred of Wadsworth's brigade ; but Scott, who at 
Twelfth Street was in plain sight of the landing, retreated 
earlier and escaped by the Bloomingdale Road. Sir Henry 
Clinton, landing last with the Grenadiers, marched directly up 
Thirty-fourth Street on to that part of jMurray Hill now 
represented by Park Avenue, where he halted until four o'clock 
in the afternoon for the remainder of the army to cross. It 
was while waiting here that Mrs. Murray entertained General 
Howe and his officers for two hours or more at her house on the 
corner of Thirty-sixth Street and Park Avenue, and b}^ thus 
delaying the march of the British enabled Putnam to safely 
draw off the remainder of his Division from the lower part of 
the city. 

After it became certain that the enemy would land at Kip's 
Bay, General Parsons directed three of his regiments, Pres- 
cott's, Tyler's and the remnant of Huntington's, less than 
one thousand men in all (his other regiments being, one at 



66 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Powle's Hook and the remaining two on Harlem Heights), to 
march from his hnes near Corlears Hook to assist Spencer's 
division where the enemy were attempting to land, a distance 
of about four miles by the road. Fellows' brigade of Massa- 
chusetts militia had already been ordered forward for the same 
purpose. Riding after these regiments by Putnam's order, he 
observed that the vanguard had turned into the Bloomingdale 
Road, instead of advancing by the Post Road which led more 
directly to the landing place, and hastened to the front of the 
brigade to march it into the Post Road, which would have 
brought him into immediate collision with Donop's Hessians, 
but was told that Generals Putnam and Spencer, who were a 
little distance forward, had ordered the march by this route. 
Continuing up this road to the road which crossed from the 
Bloomingdale to the Post Road on the line of Forty-second 
Street, he " found Fellows' brigade in the cross-road marching 
eastward, and also saw General Washington, Putnam and 
others on the top of the hill eastward (Murray Hill), and rode 
up to them." Washington, who had come down from his 
Quarters on the Heights immediately upon hearing the firing, 
in person directed Parsons to " attend to keep his brigade in 
order and march on into the cross-road. He accordingly rode 
back and meeting the brigade as it swung into the cross-road, 
rode by its side to near the top of the hill, his attention being 
to keep the brigade in order." Fellows' brigade was a con- 
siderable distance in advance of Parsons' on the cross-road, 
and had already or was just about taking position near the 
Post Road which there ran along the line of Lexington Avenue. 
The place was not unfavorable for making a stand. On the 
south side of the cross-road was a large cornfield — the corn 
full-grown — extending from near Park Avenue to the Post 
Road, well fitted to cover the movements of troops ; and the 
stone fences and walls which bounded and divided the fields 
were far better breastworks than the rail fence which did such 
service at Bunker Hill. 

It was now not far from twelve o'clock. The enemy had just 
effected a landing and the brigades of Douglas and Wads- 
worth were in full retreat, as Douglas said, " through as hot a 
fire as could well be made, but they mostly overshot us." As 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 67 

Parsons with his brigade approached the top of the hill, the 
panic-stricken militia, breathless and exhausted, could be seen 
fleeing up the Post Road, into the cross-road and through the 
fields, and Fellows' brigade, disordered by the fugitives and 
infected by the prevailing panic, ready to break and run the 
moment the enemy should appear. Perceiving the situation, 
Washington and Putnam rode towards the Post Road and 
attempted to " rally the men and get them into some order," 
but the appearance just then of Leslie's advance increased the 
confusion. Parsons coming up at that moment with his 
brigade, " heard Washington call out, ' Take the walls,' and 
immediately added, ' Take the cornfield,' at which, immediately 
from front to rear of the brigade the men ran to the walls and 
some into the cornfield, in a most confused and disordered 
manner," upon which Parsons " used his utmost endeavor to 
form the brigade into some order upon that ground, but the men 
were so dispersed he found it impossible." After the exchange 
of a few shots. Parsons' Continentals were swept along by the 
current, among whom were Prescott's men who fought at 
Bunker Hill, and Huntington's men who, with Atlee's, had a 
few days before twice driven the British with heavy loss from 
Battle Hill. Notwithstanding the utmost exertions of Wash- 
ington, Putnam, Parsons and Fellows and other officers, all 
attempts to rally the unreasoning crowd were " fruitless and 
ineffectual." The ground on which this occurred was nearly 
opposite the Grand Central Station, on, or a little east of. Park 
Avenue. The cross-road deserted. Parsons " rode back into 
the Bloomingdale Road and there found a considerable part of 
his brigade, but in no order." Washington, who was then for- 
ward on the Road, " sent for Parsons and gave order to form 
the brigade as soon as could be done and march on to Harlem 
Heights," which was done " as soon as the brigade could be 
reduced to any form." This position, which with proper 
defences could be made practically impregnable, Washington 
had already taken the precaution to secure. 

General Heath, in excuse of this rout pleads that " the 
wounds received on Long Island were yet bleeding; and that 
the officers, if not the men, knew that the city was not to be 
defended." He might have added, that the men well knew 



68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

they were alone in the city, in the presence of a victorious 
eneni}^ and without hope of assistance from the main army on 
Harlem Heights in case of disaster. The troops were undoubt- 
edly nervous and excited, but they were not the " dastardly 
sons of cowardice " which some chose to term them — their sub- 
sequent record proves to the contrary — nor did they " magnify 
the number of the enemy to thrice the reality and generate 
substances from their own shadows," as some not more brave 
seemed to think. They had watched the enemy afloat on the 
river for five long hours to little purpose if they did not know 
their number almost to a man. Neither were they panic- 
stricken in the proper sense of the term, for it was not on 
imagination but upon positive knowledge that their fears were 
based. They understood the situation only too well. It was 
not Leslie's advance, thrice magnified, which excited their 
fears, but the four thousand behind him and the six brigades 
about to cross. Remembering how on Long Island Grant had 
held Stirling and Parsons by a feint of attacking until Corn- 
wallis could get in their rear and cut off their retreat, they 
were not disposed to repeat the play at this time for the 
benefit of Clinton, then coming on to Murray Hill with the 
main body of the enemy. When Leslie's vanguard appeared, 
they knew that not a moment was to be lost if they would 
secure their safety. Retreat at that time was clearly the best 
generalship, and it is not a little surprising that any serious 
attempt should have been made to resist the enemy's advance. 
No one, certainly, could be a much better judge of the 
quality of the American troops than General Burgoyne after 
his experience at Saratoga. Writing concerning them to Lord 
George Germain, October 20th, 1777, while at General 
Schuyler's house in Albany, he saj^s :- — 

" I should hold myself unjustifiable, if I did not confide to your 
Lordship mj' opinion upon a near inspection of the rebel troops. 
The standing corps which I have seen^ are disciplined, I do not 
hazard the term but apply it to the great fundamental points of 
military institution — sobriety, subordination, regularity and courage. 
The militia are inferior in method and movement, but not a jot 
less serviceable in the woods. INIy conjectures were very different 
after the affair of Ticonderoga, but I am convinced they were 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 69 

delusive; and it is my duty to the State to confess it. The panic 
of the rebel troops is confined and of short duration ; the enthusiasm 
is extensive and permanent." 

The affair of Harlem Heights on the 16th greatly inspirited 
our troops. The British were encamped on the southern slope 
of what is now known as Morningside Heights, their pickets 
being near One Hundred and Fifth Street, while the Americans 
were entrenched on Washington Heights with their pickets 
posted in the deep valley which, extending diagonally from 
One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street and Eighth Avenue to 
the Hudson River at One Hundred and Thirtieth Street, 
divides the Heights into two parts. A corps of Rangers — 
about one hundred and twenty picked men taken principally 
from Parsons' Continentals — had been organized under Lieut. 
Colonel Knowlton of Durkee's regiment, Parsons' brigade, to 
act under the immediate orders of the Commander-in-Chief. 
Desirous of determining the enemy's position, Washington 
directed Knowlton to make a reconnaissance early on the morn- 
ing of the 16th. Marching southward, probably on the line 
of Riverside Drive, Knowlton encountered the enemy's pickets 
about where One Hundred and Fourth Street crosses the 
Bloomingdale Road, now the Boulevard. A brisk skirmish 
ensued, when, the enemy being reinforced, Knowlton was com- 
pelled to retreat to the valley, his opponents halting on the 
northern slope of the hill. With the design of surrounding 
and capturing this force, Washington ordered a feint of 
attack in front to draw the enemy into the valley, and at the 
same time directed Knowlton, reinforced by the Virginia 
Riflemen under Leitch, to move by the left and take them in the 
rear. Through some misapprehension or because of the enemy 
falling back, the attack fell rather upon their finnk than upon 
their rear, so that Knovvlton's men as they clambered up the 
steep rocks were exposed to a heavy fire under which both 
Knowlton and Leitch fell mortally wounded, the former dying 
within an hour. The spot where they fell was somewhere 
between the Boulevard and Fort Laight, part way up the hill. 
The Rangers continuing their advance and the feint in front 
developing into a serious attack, the enemy were forced into a 



70 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

buckwheat field between the Columbia University grounds and 
Grant's Tomb, where, both sides having been reinforced, the 
battle raged for two hours, ending with the enemy being driven 
back to their lines. The British Reserves, the Thirty-third 
and Forty-second Regiments and four battalions of grena- 
diers now rapidly advancing, our men were recalled and 
" giving a Hurrah, left the field in good order." Chasing the 
British was a new experience to our men and one they heartily 
enjoyed. 

The death of Colonel Knowlton was a severe loss to the army. 
In his orders of the 17th, Washington referred to him as " the 
gallant and brave Colonel Knowlton, who would have been an 
honor to any country." His successor in the command of this 
corps, had he lived, would have been another officer in Par- 
sons' brigade, Nathan Hale, the Martyr Spy of the Revolu- 
tion. With its capture at the taking of Fort Washington this 
select and spirited corps ceased to exist. 



CHAPTER IX 

Battle of White Plains. Parsons Holds Extreme Left of 
Line at Rye Pond. Marches to Attack General Agnew. 
In the Highlands and New Jersey. Expedition with Clin- 
ton. Returns to Peekskill. Battles of Trenton and 
Princeton. Commands the Left in Heath's Attack on 
New York. 

September, 1776 — February, 1777 

Since the reorganization of the army following the retreat 
from Long Island, General Heath had held the important posi- 
tion at Kingsbridge with two brigades under Mifflin and 
George Clinton. On the 18th of September, Washington wrote 
him that he had " ordered Parsons' brigade with Scott's and 
Sargent's, to him at Kingsbridge." After the affair of Har- 
lem Heights, the enemy remained quiet until the morning of 
October 12th, when Howe, embarking all his army, except two 
brigades under Earl Percy left to defend New York, passed up 
the Sound under cover of a heavy fog, and, landing at 
Throg's Neck in Westchester County, placed himself on 
Washington's flank with the design of cutting off his com- 
munications with the Eastern States and shutting him up on 
New York Island. The movement was unexpected, but the 
detachments hurried forward, among them Prescott's regiment 
of Parsons' brigade, were able by throwing up breastworks 
across the narrow part of the Neck and by destroying the 
bridge and causeway, over which ran the only road to the main- 
land, to check Howe's advance and confine him to the Neck. 
Here Howe remained for five days. On the 18th, he re-em- 
barked his troops and landed a few miles further east at Pell's 
Point, whence he advanced to the high ground between East 
Chester and New Rochelle. At this place he was joined by the 
Hessian Division under Knyphausen, one of the ablest of the 
German generals. Indeed, it is said of these Hessians, that 
their officers were all noblemen and gentlemen, and as a whole 

71 



7^ LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

superior to the English officers, and, as mihtary men, the best 
in Europe at that time. 

A Council of War held by the Americans the 16th, while 
the British were still at Throg's Neck, having decided that 
their communications with the East could not be kept open 
if they remained on New York Island, Washington extended 
his lines along the west side of the Bronx towards White Plains 
until the baggage and stores could be brought up, when he 
called in his detachments and concentrated his whole army on 
the high grounds at the north of the village behind two lines 
of intrenchments, his right resting on the Bronx, and his 
left, composed of the brigades of Mifflin, George Clinton, Par- 
sons, Scott and Sargent, under the command of General Heath, 
on St. Mary's Pond, about two miles east of the village. In 
this position Heath's division remained during all the opera- 
tions on the right from October 22d to November 9th, cover- 
ing the upper road into Connecticut, that near the Sound, the 
Boston Post Road, being in the possession of the enemy. 

Chatterton Hill, an isolated but commanding and easily 
defended elevation just across the Bronx, less than a mile 
beyond our right, had been occupied by McDougall with four- 
teen hundred men, the better to protect our flank. General 
Howe, having moved up from New Rochelle to Scarsdale, 
advanced on the morning of the 28th in two colunms, the right 
under Clinton and the left under Von Heister, and after a 
smart skirmish near the present village of Hart's Corners, 
arrived in sight of our lines. Seeing McDougall's advanta- 
geous position, he directed against it the Hessians and one 
British brigade, about four thousand men. Crossing the 
Bronx, they marched along " Mill Lane," up the river and 
under cover of the hill, until the head of the column was 
opposite McDougall's left, when, wheeling to the left into line 
and attempting to charge up the steep face of the hill, they 
were met by such a deadly fire that it looked from the American 
camp as though this was to be another Bunker Hill; but Rail, 
the Hessian Colonel, moving further to his left and ascending 
the easier southern slope of the hill, suddenly attacked the 
Americans on their flank and forced them from the field. The 
loss of the British in killed and wounded was double that of 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 73 

the Americans. This affair is known as the battle of White 
Plains, and in it was actively engaged one of Parsons' oldest 
regiments, that under Colonel Charles Webb. 

The enemy after the battle remained inactive except that 
they extended their lines about a mile towards the North 
River. " It is a little extraordinary," writes Tench Tilgh- 
man, Washington's aid-de-camp, to William Duer, " that this 
move should be made in our rear. To day Stirling is detached 
ahead of them to get possession of the passes among the hills, 
and General Parsons has taken post near the head of Rye 
Pond, which secures the passes in our front." 

On the 23d of October, General Parsons had been ordered 
to Horseneck in Connecticut (the present village of Green- 
wich), and before his return, as appears from the following 
letter written by him to General Clinton, October 30, was 
advised that his brigade had been ordered to Kingstreet near 
Rye Pond and the hills of North Castle, and directed to join it 
there. 

Camp near North Castle, October 30th, 1776. 
Dear Sir. — I have not had an opportunity to apologize for not 
fulfilling my agreement in respect to the division of the tents. I 
gave orders for drawing all the tents in store and the division of 
them between the three brigades according to the number of men 
in the brigades ; but on Wednesday I was ordered to Horseneck by 
the General and before my return had orders to repair to this Post 
and that I should there find this part of my brigade. General 
Heath then ordered me to draw all the tents in store and use them 
for covering the men here. I mentioned the agreement made 
with youj but he said that tents had been sent for from Fishkill and 
would probably be at the Plains in season for your brigade, and 
t'would save much trouble by my using those tents for my men. 
As I do not know that you have any knowledge of the reason why 
the tents were all taken, I thought it incumbent on me to give you 
this information lest you should think I had not dealt honorably 
with }^ou. I apprehended a deserter from Col. Swartout's regiment 
last night and committed him to my guard who have negligently 
suffered him to escape. 

I am, Sir, yr. h'ble Ser'vt, 

Sam^l. H. Parsons 

To Gen. George Clinton. 



74 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The morning after the battle, Howe reconnoitered the 
American intrenchments and, finding them too strong to war- 
rant an assault without reinforcements, awaited the arrival of 
Earl Percy's brigades, which reaching him on the evening of 
the 30th, preparations were made to storm the Works the next 
day; but a tempest of wind and rain, arising in the night and 
continuing through the following day, delayed the attack. 
Washington, not deeming it prudent to risk the assault which 
was certain to be made on the morrow, drew back his right 
and center on the night of the 31st, to the hills of North 
Castle, where he was practically beyond the reach of the 
enemy. 

On the 30th, nearly three thousand of the enemy had been 
seen advancing towards Kingstreet and the Purchase Road 
with the apparent intention of turning our left and rolling up 
the line when the general assault ordered for the next day should 
be made. Although Howe's plan of attack had been frustrated 
by the storm and the withdrawal of the American right and 
center, he, nevertheless, on the morning of November first, 
threw a strong column between Parsons' Post at Rye Pond 
and Heath's division near St. Mary's Pond, and attempted to 
capture Malcom's regiment, which was encamped on a wooded 
slope at some distance from the main body of the troops and 
separated from them by a deep hollow through which ran a 
brook, by occupying the hollow and interposing a force 
between the division and Malcom. Anticipating this design, 
Heath sent a regiment to take position behind a heavy stone 
wall which crossed the head of the hollow, and thus effectually 
barred the further progress of the enemy. Finding that noth- 
ing could be accomplished, the British withdrew. 

Parsons' brigade remained at Rye Pond until after the 30th, 
but on or about November first, moved down Kingstreet six or 
seven miles, to Saw Pits (now the village of Port Chester), for 
we find from the following letter to General Greene from 
Washington's Secretary, Col. R. H. Harrison, dated White 
Plains, November 3, 1776, that Parsons on the 3d was stationed 
at that place, probably to guard the Post Road and the Posts 
on the Sound: — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 75 

Since my letter of yesterday no event of an interesting nature 
has turned up, but we have just received intelligence from General 
Parsons, who is stationed with his brigade at Saw Pits, that a large 
body of the enemy has advanced within a mile of him. He is on 
the march to meet them and requested some troops to be sent to 
maintain the lines he has thrown up. 

This affair is described at some length in Baird's History 
of Rye, from which we quote the following: 

Just before General Howe withdrew his army from White 
Plains, a brigade under the command of General Agnew, pushed 
forward about two miles beyond Rye in hopes of bringing a large 
detachment of the American Army which was stationed at Saw 
Pits to an engagement. Not being able to come up with them, they 
returned on Sunday afternoon, November 3d, to join the royal 
forces at White Plains. It was a great day for the Royalists at 
Rye, many of them showing particular marks of joy upon the pas- 
sage of the King's troops. The American troops reached Rye the 
same evening and, by the loyalist account, showed their resentment 
towards the Tory sympathisers by plundering their houses, driving 
off their cattle, taking away their grain and imprisoning some of 
those most obnoxious. 

The same day Colonel Harrison sent to the President of 
Congress a letter, just received from General Parsons, com- 
plaining of a " most scandalous practice of desertion and 
returning home, by which the number of our troops is every 
day decreasing." This was presented to Congress on the 6th. 
The returns of Parsons' brigade justify this complaint. Tliat 
of November 3d, shows a total of 3192 men distributed among 
eleven regiments, as follows : — 

Colonel Prescott 376 Colonel Smith 112 

Taylor 525 Lt. Col. Throop 194 

Huntington 322 Lt. Col. Hosford 193 

Ward 483 Major Rogers 172 

Mcintosh 303 

Carpenter 191 Total 3192 

Cogswell 321 

The returns of November 9th show a total of 1999 men, and 



76 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

of November 24, of 1316 men. Washington's letters are 
full of similar complaints. 

When Howe found that Washington could not be com- 
pelled to fight except on terms most advantageous to himself, 
he turned his attention to the reduction of Fort Washington 
and the forts still occupied by the Americans in the vicinity of 
New York. On the 2d of November, he sent Knyphausen to 
occupy Kingsbridge, and on the 5th broke camp and marched 
with his whole army to Dobb's Ferry. 

On the 6th a Council of War was held at Headquarters, 
White Plains, at which were present, His Excellency General 
Washington, Major Generals Lee, Putnam, Spencer, Heath, 
Sullivan and Lincoln and Brigadiers Stirling, Mifflin, Nixon, 
McDougall, Parsons, Scott and Clinton. The matters brought 
before the Council were in part as follows : 

The late movements of the enemy having made it necessary to 
consider what may be now proposed for this army to do^ the Gen- 
eral submits to the Council the following questions, viz : 

1. Supposing the enemy to be retreating towards New York, will 
it not be proper to throw a body of troops into the Jerseys imme- 
diately? This was unanimously agreed to. 

2. Whether it would not be proper to detach immediately all 
those troops which have been raised on the western side of the Hud- 
son River? This was agreed to with the proviso that in such case 
the regiments belonging to the east side of the Hudson should be 
removed to the east side, if the movements of the enemy and the 
circumstances of the army will admit. 

3. What number of men would be necessary to take post at Peeks- 
kill and the passes in the Highlands for the defense of those posts, 
erecting fortifications &c.? The number agreed to was three 
thousand. 

Pursuant to the decision of the Council, Washington on the 
9th commenced sending to the Jerseys five thousand troops 
which he was to command in person. Heath's division was 
ordered to Peekskill to garrison the Posts in the Highlands 
both sides of the river. On the 10th, General Lee, who had 
just arrived from the South wearing the laurels won by 
Colonel Moultrie in the defense of Charleston, was instructed 
" to take command of the remainder of the army, about seventy- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 77 

five hundred Continental troops and militia, to consider the 
Post at Croton Bridge as under his immediate care, as also 
that latel}^ occupied by General Parsons (Saw Pits), to direct 
the Connecticut troops then at Stamford under General 
Wooster, and to dispose of the militia regiments which came 
out with General Saltonstall and were annexed to General Par- 
sons' brigade." On the 11th and 12th, Washington recon- 
noitered the Highlands with Heath, and, crossing the river, 
rode through Smiths Clove to Hackensack. On the 18th Heath 
reported from Peekskill : 

" Have sent three regiments of Parsons (Prescott's, Ward's, and 
Wyllys') and General Scott's brigade to the gorge of the mountain 
by Robinson's house. General Parsons has importuned me for 
leave to attend the Governor and Council of Connecticut, which I 
have granted, and hope for your Excellency's approbation." 

Colonel Harrison, Washington's secretary, replied from 
Hackensack the 20th : 

" As General Parsons is a very judicious and good officer and his 
presence may have a happy influence in the appointment of good 
officers, I can almost assure you the liberty you have granted him 
will be approved by his Excellency." 

The capture of Fort Washington on the 16th was the 
severest blow sustained by the Americans during the whole 
war. Our loss in prisoners alone was over twenty-eight hun- 
dred officers and men. This Avas followed on the 20th by the 
evacuation of Fort Lee on the opposite side of the Hudson. 

The day following the evacuation of Fort Lee, Washington 
commenced his retreat through the Jerseys with Cornwallis 
in close pursuit. Leaving Hackensack the 21st, he arrived at 
Newark the evening of the 22d. Remaining there five days, he 
moved to Brunswick on the 28th, his rear-guard leaving New- 
ark just as Cornwallis' advance was coming in. December 
1, he left Brunswick, Cornwallis entering the town the even- 
ing of the same day. Marching by night to Princeton, he left 
General Lord Stirling Avith twelve hundred men to Avatch the 
enemy while with the rest of the army he pressed on to Tren- 



78 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ton. After transferring his baggage and stores to the west 
side of the Delaware, he faced about to meet StirHng who was 
retreating before a vastly superior force. Marching his 
whole army to Trenton, he put the river between it and the 
enemy, and, securing all the boats for seventy miles up and 
down the river and placing guards at all the crossings from 
Coryell's Ferry to Bristol, left Cornwallis baffled and defeated 
on the eastern side. 

On the 7th, as the troops were preparing to cross the Dela- 
ware, Washington wrote to Heath in the Highlands directing 
him 

to cross the North River with the troops under your command, 
to wit^ Parsons' brigade, and move so as to give all possible protec- 
tion to the country and vigor to the cause. If you could move on 
towards Morristown, New Jersey, it would be best, as by this means 
a junction may be made if necessary, and at all events such a move- 
ment would attract attention. 

On receipt of this order, Heath wrote to Parsons : 

PeekskilLj December 9, 1776. 
Dear Sir. — I have this moment received orders from General 
Washington to move over the North River with the Continental 
troops under my command, to wit, your brigade. You will, there- 
fore, immediately give orders to Prescott's, Ward's and Wyllys' 
regiments to be ready to march to-morrow at ten o'clock; tents, ket- 
tles and light baggage only to be carried. The heavy baggage to be 
left with the men who are unfit for duty. Four days provision to be 
taken. Hard biscuit may be drawn. 1 am &c 

W. Heath. 
To General Parsons. 

From Heath's Memoirs we learn that " December 10, 1776, 
a little after noon. Parsons' brigade marched over to King's 
Ferry, the greatest alertness having been discovered by both 
officers and men;" that on the 11th "the troops crossed the 
Ferry and marched to Haverstraw ; " and on the 12th 
" marched from Haverstraw to Tappan." 

On the 8th of December, General Clinton and Earl Percy 
with six thousand British troops detached from the main army 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 79 

in New York, had taken possession of Newpoi't and Rhode 
Island. This created great alarm throughout Connecticut. In 
reply to a letter from Governor Trumbull asking aid, Wash- 
ington wrote him on the 14th: "Your situation at the east- 
ward is truly alarming. I have countermanded the march of 
Heath's division which was coming down from Peekskill. It is 
ordered to return again to that place and hold itself in read- 
iness to move as occasion may require." In a postscript he 
says : " Learning from Heath that Parsons was to cross the 
North River the 10th and must be at Morristown by this time, I 
have changed my intention in view of the short time his troops 
have now to serve." 

The situation having become less threatening as the inten- 
tions of the enemy developed, Washington again writes 
Heath :— 

Headquarters near Coryell's Ferry, 

December 16, 1776. 
Dear Sir. — I have received your favor of the 11th inst. advising 
me of the march of Parsons' brigade from Peekskill to join us. 
From information as to the enemy I should conceive it expedient 
that you return Parsons' brigade to your former station. 

He also the same day wrote the New York Convention that 
he had ordered Heath to return to Peekskill. 

On the night of December 19 while still in New Jersey, 
Generals Parsons and Clinton, as the latter writes to the New 
York Convention from Pyramus, 

with five hundred of his troops and mine, set out about dusk 
on a visit to our friends in the English neighborhood (in the north- 
ern part of the State) where we were informed Colonel Buskirk's 
regiment of new levies and some companies of light infantry were 
quartered. When we came to the first house in the English neigh- 
borhood, we detached Colonel Woodhull with two hundred men to 
take the enemy in the rear and prevent their escape while we with 
the remainder of the troojis attacked them in front. We surprised 
their advance guard and were marching to attack their main body, 
when the enemy, being alarmed by the firing and Woodhull not hav- 
ing yet come up, escaped. It was, however, a successful little expe- 
dition. We took twenty-three prisoners, eighteen excellent new 



80 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

muskets, a wagon and eight horses and killed four or five. Had it 
not been so exceeding cold and the men beat out with the length of 
the march^ which, by the route we took, was at least twenty-eight 
miles, I have not the least doubt we should have killed or taken the 
whole party. 

On the 22d, Parsons' brigade commenced its return march 
to Peekskill, reaching there the next day. On the 26th of 
December, five of Parsons' regiments were to be paid off, their 
term of service expiring at the end of the month. While" at 
Peekskill attending to this matter, General Parsons writes as 
follows to his youngest son, Thomas, then about nine years 
of age : 

Peekskill, December 27, 1776. 

Dear Thomas. — I have sent two soldiers to live at your house. 
One understands French and the other painting. You may learn 
something by them. I wish you to remember your books. Be vir- 
tuous and manly in your behavior, a comfort to your mother and 
family. Leave off all childish follies and learn to behave with 
decency and manly fortitude. Lay aside that bashful conduct. A 
modest behavior with resolution and courage will endear you to all 
your acquaintances. Falsehood and lies you must always abhor 
and detest. 

Billy will be at home next week. When I shall come home I can't 
tell, but remember, if I fall in this war, I expect you and all my 
sons to arm in defense of your glorious liberty and lay down your 
lives in defense of your country and to avenge my death, if neces- 
sary. Yours &c., 

Sam'l. H. Parsons. 

No sooner had Washington secured the safety of his army 
beyond the Delaware, than he began to plan how with the 
troops coming to his assistance he might strikfe some " lucky 
blow which would be fatal to the enemy and rouse the spirits 
of the people, which are quite sunk by our late misfortunes." 
At Trenton were three regiments of Hessians and a troop of 
British light-horse. On Christmas night, with twenty-four 
hundred Continentals under his immediate command, moving 
in two columns under Sullivan and Greene, Washington crossed 
the Delaware at McKonkey's Ferry, and reaching Trenton at 
eight o'clock in the morning, the two columns attacked simul- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 81 

taneously from opposite points, and in less than an hour cap- 
tured over nine hundred prisoners and a thousand stands of 
arms. The news of this success brought Cornwalhs with seven 
thousand veteran troops down from Princeton, before whom 
the Americans retired to the high grounds beyond the Assan- 
pink River. During the night, leaving his camp fires burning, 
Washington, taking the roundabout road to Princeton, 
arrived there early in the morning and without delay attacked 
the three British regiments left there by Cornwallis, putting 
them to flight with the loss of nearly five hundred killed, 
wounded and prisoners. Cornwallis retracing his steps, Wash- 
ington retreated to his high grounds and went into winter 
quarters at Morristown. 

On the 5th of January, 1777, Washington wrote from 
Pluckemin to General Heath: 

The enemy are in great consternation, and as the panic affords 
lis a favorable opportunity to drive them out of the Jerseys, it has 
been determined in Council that you should move down towards New 
York with a considerable force as if you had a design upon the city. 
That being an object of great importance, the enemy will be reduced 
to the necessity of withdrawing a considerable part of their force 
from the Jerseys, if not the whole, to secure the city. I shall draw 
the force on this side of the North River together at Morristown, 
where I shall watch the motions of the enemy and avail myself of 
every favorable circumstance. You will retain for the expedition 
four thousand of the militia coming from the New England Gov- 
ernments. 

Washington expected much from this expedition. Writing 
to Lincoln, who was to take an active part in it, he says : 

If the enemy does not throw a considerable body back again 
(from New Jersey) you may in all jDrobability carry the city, or at 
least, blockade them in it. . . . Be as expeditious as possible 
in moving forward, for the sooner a panic-struck enemy is followed, 
the better. 

Lincoln had brought down six thousand militia from Mass- 
achusetts, two thousand of whom were to join Washington 
in New Jersey. John Morin Scott's brigade had been for 



82 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

nearly two months with Heath in the Highlands. Wooster, 
since the battle of White Plains, had been guarding the west- 
ern part of Connecticut. General Parsons, who had gone to 
the Highlands in November, had been since the 8th of January 
encamped on Kingstreet, a road in the town of Rye running 
northerly along the high plateau on the west side of the Byram 
River, overlooking Port Chester, and a frequent camping 
ground for troops throughout the Revolutionary War. 

The following is an extract from a letter written from this 
camp by Parsons to his wife: 

Kingstreet, 12th January, 1777. 

j\Iy Dear. — Could I have enjoyed the pleasure of my family 
without staining my honor, I should have accepted my General's 
permission and before this time have been at home. An attack upon 
the enemy in this country is determined upon, the troops are assem- 
bling and the middle of this week will doubtless determine the suc- 
cess of the enterprise. If I am fortunate to survive a successful 
attack, I shall return home with the tidings. 

The remarkable success of our arms since the 25th of December 
has inspired new courage in all ranks, and it now seems the wish 
of every man to push the advantage with the utmost assiduity, whilst 
the consternation which has seized the enemy remains. A more 
particular account of the movements of the army than you have 
received may perhaps be agreeable to you. 

He then gives a brief account of the battles of Trenton and 
Princeton. 

Heath's little army marched in three divisions ; Lincoln with 
the Massachusetts men by the road along the east side of the 
Hudson ; Scott with his New Yorkers, by way of White 
Plains ; and Wooster and Parsons with the Connecticut militia 
from New Rochelle and East Chester. On the 18th, just before 
sunrise, the three divisions reached the enemy's outposts in the 
neighborhood of Kingsbridge nearly at the same time. After 
a httle skirmishing and the capture of a few prisoners, Heath 
summoned Fort Lidependence to surrender. " Twenty minutes 
only can be allowed for the garrison to give their answer, and 
should it be in the negative, they must abide the consequences," 
was Heath's ultimatum. The Hessian garrison, perhaps not 
understanding English or not impressed by Heath's lofty and 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 83 

peremptory tone, avoided the threatened consequences of an 
answer in the negative by sending no answer at all. The Fort, 
nevertheless, was not attacked, and Heath, after maintaining 
his position firmly for ten days, retired towards White Plains. 
No troops were drawn from the Jerseys by this diversion and 
but a single brigade was returned from Rhode Island. Heath 
was severely censured for his conduct of the expedition, not 
only by Washington, but by his own officers. General Scott 
and William Duer, both members of the New York Convention, 
each wrote General Washington disapproving the manner in 
which it had been conducted, and General Parsons expressed 
himself to the same eflPect. Duer writing January 28th, 
said : — 

Brigadier General Parsons, who came down with us from 
Peekskill, has gone back to Connecticut, not choosing, as I conceive, 
to risk liis reputation by a longer stay here . . . Should your 
Excellency wish to know to what our want of success is to be attrib- 
uted, I must beg leave to refer to your own ji:dgment of the char- 
acter of men; observing only, that it is my private opinion, that if 
measures could be devised, without injuring the public service, that 
either General Mifflin, General Parsons or General Clinton could 
direct our operations in this part of the County of Westchester, 
that the enemy would not only be driven from this County, but other 
measures might probably be devised for pushing our success and 
harassing the enemy. 

Scott, writing on the 14th of February, said: — 

I wish I had it in my power to give you a favorable account 
of our little expedition, which I imagine, would have been successful 
beyond expectation, had it not been for certain reasons ; when I 
found it had dwindled into a mere foraging business, I thought it 
my duty to return to the Convention. 

In a private letter to Heath, dated February 3d, 1777. 
Washington wrote: — 

This letter is to hint to you, and I do it with concern, that your 
conduct is censured (and by men of sense and judgment who were 
with you on the expedition to Fort Independence), as being fraught 



84 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

with too much caution, by which the army has been disappointed 
and in some sense disgraced. Your summons, as you did not attempt 
to fulfil your threats, was not only idle but farcical, and will not 
fail of turning the laugh exceedingly against us. These things I 
mention to you as a friend. Why you should be so apprehensive of 
being surrounded, even if Lord Percy had landed, I cannot conceive. 
You know that landing men and procuring horses is not the work of 
an hour, a day or even a week. Upon the whole it appears to me 
from information, that, if you had pushed vigorously upon your 
first going to Fort Independence, the Post would have been carried. 

Heath had given as a reason for his retreat, " that his 
troops could not stand the inclemency of the weather, and that 
he feared the troops expected from Rhode Island would land 
upon his back." Replying, February 6th, to Washington's 
letters of the 3d and 4th, after speaking of the pain caused by 
his rebuke, Heath goes on to say : — 

Before I received your Excellency's orders to move myself to- 
wards Kingsbridge, upon the application of the Committee of the 
State of New York, I appointed General Parsons to take the com- 
mand of the troops destined for their secret expedition. He gave 
me his answer in writing, accepting the command in obedience to 
orders, but, at the same time, desiring that his answer might remain 
in writing, that it might appear, that, although he cheerfully obeyed 
orders, yet that he considered the taking the command of a body 
of militia for such an attempt, to use his own words, as a sacrifice 
of his character. By your Excellency's orders to me, his has escaped, 
but it seems mine is to receive the fatal stab. 

The results of the campaign now closed were far from 
flattering to the British Commander. Notwithstanding his 
immense preparations and the best efforts of his splendid army 
and powerful fleet, the only territory remaining under his con- 
trol was Newport in Rhode Island, New York and the adjacent 
Islands, and New Jersey as far Amboy and Brunswick. 



CHAPTER X 

Recruiting the Connecticut Line. Inoculation of the 
Troops. Tryon's Raid on Danbury. Death of Wooster. 
Correspondence with Washington. IMeigs Expedition to 
Sag Harbor. 

January — June, 1777 

The Continental establishment of 1776 had been disbanded 
on the 31st of December, and the army now in the field was com- 
posed almost entirely of militia and State troops. Experience 
had shown that a more permanent army was necessary in order 
to cope successfully with the British Regulars. To provide 
such a one, Congress, by its resolutions of September and 
October, 1776, had authorized the enlistment of eighty-eight 
regiments of the Line, to serve for three years or during the 
war, besides cavalry and artillery. It had also, upon the 
urgent representations of Washington, provided for the rais- 
ing of sixteen " additional regiments," so called, to be recruited 
from the country at large. All these troops were to be enlisted, 
organized, disciplined, armed and equipped before the opening 
of the next campaign. Of the regiments of the Line, eight 
were to be furnished by Connecticut, to be known during the 
war as the " Connecticut Line." Besides these regiments, 
there were also recruited during the year in the State, the 
" additional regiment " of Colonel Samuel B. Webb, Washing- 
ton's late aid-de-camp, Sheldon's regiment of dragoons and 
parts of Lamb's artillery and other organizations. Generals 
Putnam, Spencer and Arnold being on duty outside the State, 
and Wooster being occupied in guarding the Westchester lines, 
the duty of supervising the enlistment and of organizing thQ 
Connecticut Line, devolved mainly on General Parsons. The 
inducements to enlist offered in Washington's orders of Decem- 
ber 17th, were a bounty of twenty dollars, a suit of clothes 
annually and a hundred acres of land upon the expiration of 



86 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the term of service. Tories, deserters from the King's army, 
boys and slaves were not to be enlisted. " To encourage the 
brave and spirited to enter the service, the General promises 
them all the plunder they shall take from the enemy, to be 
equally divided among the officers and men according to their 
pay." This order was so misunderstood and abused, that on 
the 21st of January, Washington issued another order modify- 
ing and explaining the previous order and limiting " the 
indulgence to scouting parties as a reward for the extra- 
ordinary fatigue, hardship and danger they were exposed to." 
The property captured was not to be divided, but the proceeds, 
after appraisement and sale. The practice of plundering the 
inhabitants under the specious pretence of their being Tories, 
was prohibited under penalty of severe punishment, and the 
troops were urged " to protect and support the poor and dis- 
tressed inhabitants and not to multiply and increase their 
calamities." 

On the 22d of January, while Heath was still encamped at 
Kingsbridge, General Parsons by permission of Washington 
left camp to urge forward the recruiting in Connecticut. 
Joining the army, Friday, the 31st, after its return to White 
Plains, he went with Heath's consent to Fairfield, whence he 
wrote to Washington as follows : 

Fairfield, February 3, 1777. 
Dear General. — According to your express permission I came 
into this State the 22d of January to give what assistance I could 
to the recruiting service and to forming and regulating the troops. 
The 25th I received General Heath's orders to return to camp near 
Kingsbridge which I obeyed with some degree of reluctance as I 
could not see the necessity of my presence there. I found General 
Heath at White Plains last Friday, when he again consented I 
should return to this State . . . Our little army consisted of 
about three or four thousand as good men I think as I ever saw 
collected together and some exceedingly good officers to command 
them. . . . The little time I was in the State made it impossible 
for me to become acquainted with any degree of certainty as to the 
number of recruits raised in the State. Have ordered returns for 
every regiment to be forwarded to your Excellency. I imagine the 
number enlisted does not exceed one thousand to fifteen hun- 
dred. . . . As we are situated on the sea-coast, excursions might 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 87 

be made against the enemy with success and distress them by de- 
stroying forage, wagons, &c. I should be glad to receive your 
Excellency's permission to make attempts, in which case I should be 
glad to know in what light those who have taken the oath of alle- 
giance to Great Britain are to be regarded, and whether estates of 
those who have taken active part against the country are to be con- 
sidered enemy's property. 

I am yr Excellency's Obt. Servt. 
To General Washington. S. H. Parsons. 

To this Washington sent the following reply: 

MoRRisTOWN, February 8, 1777. 

Dear Sir. — Yesterday I received yours of the 3d inst. Since 
General Heath, by his retreat to White Plains, has given the enemy 
time to recover themselves, I do not know at this time what can bet- 
ter be done in that quarter, than adopting the plan you propose of 
crossing over to the east end of Long Island and destroying the 
forage. I am so fully convinced of the good effect of this enterprise, 
that I have ordered it to be done generally in the neighborhood of 
the enemy here, in which success has attended us to our utmost 
wish. You will endeavor at the same time to bring off all the draft 
horses fit for service. Colonel Henry B. Livingston of New York 
State, was lately with me, and has my orders for this purpose. 
With him you will please to concert a good plan. 

From the enclosed proclamation you will be able to regulate your 
conduct with regard to the Tories. No form of oath of allegiance 
is yet drawn up, but you can easily strike off one that will answer 
the end designed. They have permission to carry in with them their 
necessary wearing apparel, but nothing that can possibly be useful 
to the enemy. Their estates must be secured till the civil power 
determines what shall be done. I have written to the New England 
States on the subject of arming the troops they are to raise. You 
will get their answer. You will please to publish the enclosed 
general order [that against plundering] . 

I am &c., 
To General Parsons. Geo. Washington. 

Two days later Washington writes to Parsons requesting 
him to give orders for inoculating the Connecticut troops, and 
to postpone the proposed expedition if it will interfere with the 
inoculation. 



88 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

MoRRiSTOWN, February 10th, 1777. 

Dear Sir. — Since I wrote to you on the 8th inst., I have been 
compelled from the spreading of the small pox in our army to sub- 
mit to the necessity of inoculation and have accordingly ordered 
all the Continental troops now here and coming from the Western 
States to be inoculated immediately on their arrival. You will 
therefore give orders for the inoculating the Connecticut troops; 
and as Governor Cooke is ordered to forward on the Rhode Island 
troops to Connecticut for this purpose, you will also have proper 
attention paid to them. I need not recommend to you the greatest 
secrecy and dispatch in this business, because a moments reflection 
will inform you that should the enemy discover our situation, they 
cannot fail taking advantage of it. 

You may not perhaps be able to reconcile this order with the 
enterprise proposed in my former letter against Long Island. If 
that can be carried on at the same time with inoculation I would 
by no means have you decline ; but if one must give way to the other, 
(of which you will be the best judge) inoculation being of the 
greatest importance, must have the preference and the enterprise 
be laid aside. It will be best to draw the troops within as small 
a circle as possible towards Peekskill to have them inoculated; by 
this means if proper care is used, the danger of the infection spread- 
ing will be small and the country have but little cause to dread it. 

I am yours &c.. 
To General Parsons. Geo. Washington. 

The inoculating of the troops unavoidably postponed the 
execution of the proposed plan of invading Long Island until 
after they had been ordered to j oin the main army ; but later 
on it was carried out with signal success. 

On Friday, February 7, General Parsons conferred with 
the Connecticut Council of Safety on the subject of clothing 
for the soldiers, great difficulty having been experienced in 
procuring a sufficient quantity for the new levies. Fears being 
expressed as to the safety of the eastern part of the State, it 
was voted that he be " desired to draw on Colonels Hunting- 
ton's and Durkee's battalions to man the Posts and Forts at 
New London, Groton and Stonington for defense." 

Writing from Lyme in Connecticut, February 10, 1777, 
Parsons reports that he is " employed in recruiting and for- 
warding the eight battalions to be raised in this State, and that 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 89 

he has sent to Peekskill for five hundred stands of arms." 
Alluding to the jealousy between the several States, he says: — 
" I wish all distinctions between States to be buried in ever- 
lasting oblivion, and therefore desire nothing for this or any 
other State which will give occasion for any strife. I shall 
use my utmost diligence whilst here to promote the recruiting 
service in which I hope to do some good." Again on the 19th, 
he writes from Lyme as to the exchange of Captain Wells of 
Glastenbury and tells of the effect produced by the cruel treat- 
ment of the American prisoners in New York : " The inhuman 
treatment our prisoners received from the British officers in 
New York has proved the death of much the greater part of 
those who came out of the city in this part of the country. I 
believe about three-fourths are dead since returning home. 
The remaining few burn with rage against the enemy and 
exceedingly desire to engage again in the service of their 
country." 

February 16, General Parsons orders " Lieut. Daniel Waite 
to take a party of twenty soldiers enlisted into the Con- 
tinental Army and proceed in whaleboats to Long Island 
to seize vegetables and provisions bound for New York. All 
plundering of the inhabitants is strictly forbidden." Writing 
from Lyme, February 23, he reports to Washington the 
results of the expedition and asks as to linen and other goods 
seized, and recommends that raids be made on Huntington and 
Oyster Bays, and offers to make the trial with his permission. 

The smallpox having become very prevalent among the new 
recruits and it having been found impossible to prevent it 
spreading through the army, Washington wrote to the Gover- 
nor and Council of Connecticut on the 10th of February, that 
he had determined to inoculate all the new troops who had not 
had the disease; and that to this end he had given directions to 
General Parsons to superintend the inoculation of the Conti- 
nental troops in that State. The Governor and Council there- 
upon ordered that the new troops for Continental service should 
be inoculated, and General Parsons was desired to consult the 
authorities of the towns, who were directed to co-operate with 
him, and to report to the Governor from time to time his prog- 
ress in the business. February 24, Governor Trumbull 



90 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

writing from Lebanon to General Washington as to inoculat- 
ing the troops, says : " I am happy to find General Parsons 
disposed to give his attention to render the measure as effec- 
tive as possible." March 6 Parsons writes from Lyme to 
General Washington, acknowledging the receipt of his letters 
of the 8th, 10th and 18th of February and advising him that 
he had already established in the State a hospital for inoculat- 
ing recruits," but that the inoculating the troops renders it 
impossible at this time to make a descent on Long Island ; that 
he will send on levies as fast as they can be armed and clothed; 
and that about thirteen hundred and eighty men have already 
been enlisted for the eight regiments of the line and Samuel B. 
Webb's " additional regiment." " Nothing," he adds, " shall 
be wanting to promoting, recruiting and forwarding troops or 
any other service assigned me." 

On the 8th he writes from New London as to the recruiting 
and says, " but such is the amazing lethargy of the country 
that little short of the sound of the last trumpet will rouse 
them to realize their danger and awake them to their duty." 
... " There is too much reason to believe that idleness in 
some and dissipation in other recruiting officers prevails too 
much for the public weal, but I hope this does not prevail very 
generally. I hope to send six hundred men next week." 

In the minutes of the Council of March 17, it is noted that 
" General Parsons and Colonel Bradley were present at a meet- 
ing of the Governor and Council and considerable time was 
spent with them in arranging officers, &c. and exchanging 
places among subalterns." 

On the 21st of March, Parsons writes of the difficulty of 
recruiting and assures " his Excellency of the support of the 
Assembly." The same day Governor Trumbull wrote to Wash- 
ington : " I flatter myself that General Parsons will in ten 
days or a fortnight send you a battalion of Continental troops 
from this State and hope more will soon follow." Writing 
further, as to inoculation, he says : " I requested Parsons that 
the troops might be inoculated in the western part of the State, 
and, while convalescing, might be stationed at Stamford, Horse- 
neck and Danbury. As to the marching of troops I conclude 
that General Parsons gives frequent information." 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 91 

April 3, Washington writes to General Parsons as follows : 

MoRRisTowN, 3 April, 1777. 

Dear Sir. — My letters of the 20th and 29th Ulto. will convey 
evident proofs to you of my extreme solicitude respecting the assem- 
bling of our troops ; and yet, as I have but too much reason to believe, 
that dissipation in some and the comfortable enjoyment of domestic 
pleasures in others, have had an unhappy influence upon the con- 
duct of recruiting officers, I must again repeat the urgent necessity 
there is for the officers of every denomination exerting themselves 
to the utmost in bringing forward the new levies. 

General Howe is vigorous in his preparations ; the troops at Rhode 
Island, from the best intelligence I have been able to get, were 
about to embark; a number (to the amount it is said of 3000) have 
actually embarked from New York and Amboy, and are now at the 
watering place near the Narrows. In short, the campaign is open- 
ing, and we have no men for the field. If this is owing to the causes 
above mentioned, the officers employed in the recruiting service must 
expect to be answerable for the consequences. If they have done 
their duty, and it proceeds from unwillingness in the men to enlist, 
the Government must have recourse to coercive measures; for if the 
quotas required from each state cannot be had by voluntary enlist- 
ment, in time, and the powers of Government are not adequate to 
drafting, there is an end to the contest and opposition becomes vain. 
I therefore wish you to see Governor Trumbull and converse with 
him on the importance of this subject, for delay in obtaining the 
men, falls very little short of not getting them at all. If the enemy, 
for want of men to oppose them, can march through the country in 
triumph, or if the opposition is so feeble as to become ineffectual, 
and our army thereby destroyed by piecemeals, the bad effects of 
either is much easier to be conceived, than described, and should be 
avoided if possible. 

The eight regiments of your State I would have divided into two 
brigades as follows: 







First. 




Second. 


1. 


Colo. 


Chas. Webb. 


2. 


Colo. Huntington, 


8. 


" 


Wyllys. 


4. 


Bradley. 


5. 


" 


Douglas. 


6. 


Chandler. 


7. 


" 


Durkee. 


8. 


" Swift. 



The first brigade to be under your immediate command; the 
second to be under the care of the eldest colonel (superintended by 
you) till General Spencer arrives, or a brigadier is appointed to it. 



92 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

All the officers and men of these brigades to march immediately to 
Peekskill, except such as have not had the small pox, and are now 
under inoculation, and except such officers as are necessary for the 
care of the sick, and for recruiting, which ought to be attended to 
and prosecuted with all possible vigor. Take care to give me 
previous notice of the arrival of these troops at the Kills, that (if 
the exigencies of affairs require it) they may be immediately ordered 
on to Headquarters without loss of time. 

I am &c. 
To General Parsons. Geo. Washington. 

April 4, General Parsons reports from New Haven that 
the total enlistments in the State are fifteen hundred and fifty- 
two, and that " some of the troops began their march to join 
the army yesterday." ... "I feel myself exceedingly dis- 
tressed that the troops are so very backward and the recruit- 
ing service so slowly prosecuted. I am conscious I have 
omitted no pains to arm, clothe and forward the marching of 
the levies, and nothing on my part shall be wanting." On the 
6th, he again writes General Washington from New Haven : 

I have received your letters of the 6th, 12th, 20th and 29th of 
March. The first detachment of the troops from this State will 
march from Danbury on Tuesday morning under the command of 
Lieut. Col. Butler of Wyllys' regiment. Nothing has been or shall 
be wanting on my part to forward to camp every person who is able 
to march. 

From my soul I ardently wish and desire your Excellency 
may receive every necessary aid from this and every other State. 
I think your Excellency's censure on the dilatory conduct of some 
recruiting officers but too well founded. I have spent my whole 
time in riding from place to place in this State to animate the 
officers to their duty and endeavor to put everything in forwardness 
to march. The gentleman who commands this detachment is a 
worthy and brave officer and I hope will meet your approbation. A 
more particular answer to your letters I will send by next post. 

I am &c., 
To General Washington. S. H. Parsons. 

April 14, 1777, General Parsons in published orders, directed 
Huntington's and Durkee's regiments to rendezvous at Nor- 
wich, Wyllys' at Hartford, Douglas' at New Haven, Swift's at 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 93 

New Milford, Chas. Webb's, Bradley's and Chandler's at Dan- 
bury, Samuel B. Webb's at Wethersfield and Lieut. Col. Meigs' 
with the half of Sherburne's regiment under his command, at 
Middletown. From these points the troops were ordered to 
march to Peekskill, New York, as soon as possible. 

April 15, Parsons writing from Lyme to General Wash- 
ington as to the condition of the recruiting service, says : 

I have ordered all recruits who have not had small pox to Dan- 
bury to be inoculated. On the desire of the Governor and Council 
I have sent for three thousand stands of arms from Portsmouth, 
which, I suppose, are arrived at Norwich, which, with about eight 
hundred arms received at Peekskill and what can be furnished 
from this State, I hope will arm our troops. The number of troops 
reported to date is nineteen hundred and fifty-six. 

Danbury, April 22, he further reports to Washington tlie 
state of the recruiting, and writes respecting the facts de- 
veloped up on the trial of Robert Thompson by a court-martial, 
as follows : 

In the course of this enquiry it appears to be the general expec- 
tation of the Tories that the enemy will soon land on the coast about 
twenty miles from this place and attempt to secure or destroy the 
magazine of provisions here. Of late considerable bodies of dis- 
affected persons have collected in this neighborhood, and it seems 
their intention to join the enemy on landing. As the stores are of 
great importance, I think it highly necessary that a strong guard 
should be kept here. 

Three days after this letter was written, the expected raid 
occurred. Two thousand British troops under Governor Tryon, 
on the 25th of April landed near Fairfield and marching to 
Danbury, twenty-three miles distant, set fire to the public 
stores, including some seventeen hundred much-needed tents, 
and to several private dwellings. Generals Silliman, Arnold 
and Wooster, collecting a body of militia, endeavored to inter- 
cept the raiders on their return. Wooster boldly attacked the 
rear of the retreating column and fell mortally wounded. 
Arnold threw up a breastwork across a road along which the 
enemy were to pass, where a sharp conflict ensued when they 
appeared lasting nearly an hour. The Americans finally gave 



94 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

way but rallied and pursued the enemy to their boats in which 
they got off during the night of the 28th. 

May 2, General Parsons, upon receiving news of the losses 
at Danbury, writes from New Haven urging the necessity of 
retaining troops in the State to protect the magazines of 
provisions, and says he has consulted with General Arnold who 
is of the same opinion. 

Morristown, May 7, 1777, General Washington writes Gen- 
eral McDougall: "As Generals Arnold and Parsons may not 
be in New Haven, for which place their letters are directed, I 
beg you will send them on by a person who will see to the 
delivery of them, as they are of consequence." 

Hartford, May 11, 1777, General Parsons writes to General 
Washington : — 

Dear General. — The 5th inst. I was honored with the receipt 
of yours of the 23d of April. I have ordered all the troops in this 
State who are of the Continental Army to New Haven and Dan- 
bury. Governor Trumbull desires me to post them there until he 
shall receive an answer to a letter he has sent your Excellency 
respecting the defense of this State. As their march to Peekskill, 
if they should be ordered there, will be little retarded by it, I have 
directed their rendezvous at these two places, and shall order them 
to New Haven and westward on the sea coast, and hope the Gov- 
ernor will soon receive your Excellency's answer, so I may be able 
to give satisfaction to you and to him. I cannot think a descent 
on the coast of this State very probable, unless it be to distract our 
attention from some capital attempt on the Post near the North 
River or some other place of more consequence than the possession 
of any post within this State; however, of this your Excellency has 
the best means of judging. The draft ordered by the Governor and 
Council I fear has not been so effectual as I hoped, but the number 
of recruits added by that measure is not yet fully known. . . . 

On this view of the matter I have come to this place where the 
General Assembly are now sitting, to endeavor to procure the 
Assembly to pursue some decisive measure to fill up the quota of 
this State immediately, and I think there are fair prospects of their 
adopting measures which will not fail of accomplishing my hopes; 
at present, I don't know that I can do more service in any way than 
by remaining here until they have gone through their proposals for 
raising of the levies. ... 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 95 

Some of the posts on Long Island I think might be surprised 
with little danger of loss. If our condition is such that we can 
spare a few hundred of our troops for this purpose, there appears 
from the situation of our prisoners a pretty good prospect of suc- 
ceeding in an attempt to retake and bring them oiF. 

I am &c., 
To General Washington. Sam'l. H. Parsons. 

Hartford, May 15, 1777, General Parsons again writes to 
General Washington: 

I have received your letter of the 7th inst. and have ordered all 
the troops who have had the small pox and are able to march, to 
Peekskill. By the number wanting still to complete our battalions, 
with those who have not yet been through the small pox, 'tis proba- 
ble we shall soon have two or three thousand men who have not had 
the disease. ... I have received a request from the Governor 
and Council of this State, a copy of which I herewith send you. As 
I could not comply with their desires without your Excellency's 
direction, I have stayed those troops only who have not had the small 
pox or are in a convalescent state." He reports the number of 
recruits at thirty-two hundred and fifty-one, and says that " this 
with the addition of officers makes us more than half our quota. 
The prospects of completing the battalions are good. Nothing on 
my part shall be omitted which can forward this service. 

Thirteen transports have gone to Newport. There is no cer- 
tainty of troops being on board. From the information we have 
here, we have no reason to believe that any considerable number 
has gone from thence to New York. I have no great apprehension 
of a descent on our coast, but think we may make some on theirs 
to advantage. 

I am &c.. 
To General Washington. S. H. Parsons. 

To Parsons' letter of May 11th, Washington replied as 
follows : 

MoRRisTowN, 17th May, 1777. 
Dear Sir. — I was favored yesterday with your letter of the 11th 
instant. I wrote to Governor Trumbull fully and informed him 
that no part of the troops exacted from the State could remain 
there. This letter I presume has reached the Governor, and I trust 
the observations contained in it would satisfy him of the necessity 



96 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

of drawing the whole troops together. I think with you that the 
enemy will make no impressions into Connecticut. If they attempt 
anything of the sort^ it will be to call our attention from more im- 
portant objects. It is much to be wished that they would prosecute 
the war on a partisan or detached plan. Nothing could more cer- 
tainly ensure their destruction. The troops, as fast as they can be 
raised, and their recovery from the small pox will admit, must come 
on to Peekskill. 

I am sorry the expedient adopted by the Governor and Council 
for filling their quota of men has not been attended with all the 
advantages expected from it. I wish their next attempt may have 
more happy consequences. I am persuaded your remaining in the 
State some time longer would be of service; yet as I consider the 
defense of the fortifications and passes through the Highlands an 
object of the last importance, and possessing them most probably 
to form the chief end of the enemy's counsels and immediate opera- 
tions, I wish you to come to Peekskill and there continue with the 
troops, till some further disposition shall become necessary or may 
be ordered. At the same time I would wish you to fix upon and 
leave behind a sufficient number of proper officers to collect and 
hasten on the recruits as fast as they are raised and gone through 
inoculation. Perhaps more than one may be necessary; and I have 
no doubt you will choose for this purpose such as will be of great 
activity and industry, and in whose conduct the most implicit con- 
fidence may be reposed. 

How far the expedition to Long Island would be practicable, 
supposing our army was full, I cannot determine. In our present 
position we have no men to spare for the purpose. Further, I am 
by no means satisfied that the rules of war would justify our de- 
taching a force to recover our prisoners under the present circum- 
stances. I rather think they would not; but without going into a 
full discussion of the measure, either upon the principles of war or 
justice, I am certain that policy strongly forbids the attempt. Suc- 
cess in such case would lead to unhappy consequences. No future 
prisoners would receive the same favorable indulgence, so essential 
to their health and comfort, and it would authorize their imposing 
on them a more close and severe confinement. You are not to infer 
from hence, that I esteem the recovery of prisoners unjustifiable 
in all cases, or have any doubts respecting the propriety of it. 

I am &c., 
To General Parsons. Geo. Washington. 

The expedient referred to was to fill up the Continental regi- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 97 

ments with men drafted from the militia to serve until January 
1, the regular enlistments to continue meanwhile. Parsons 
had suggested an expedition to Long Island from Connecticut, 
and had asked Washington's opinion as to the propriety of 
attempting the rescue of the American prisoners in the vicinity 
of Flatbush. 

May 21, Parsons writes from New Haven that it is so 
late in the season that it seems useless to inoculate the troops 
and asks whether he shall continue it. He reports the embarka- 
tion of British troops for Long Island ; will forward detach- 
ments, but finds it difficult to provide sufficient clothing. 

While in New Haven about the middle of May, General Par- 
sons, learning that the enemy was collecting forage on the 
east end of Long Island for the supply of their army in New 
York, ordered a detachment under Colonel Meigs to proceed to 
Sag Harbor and destroy it. The following report made by 
General Parsons to General Washington, gives the details of 
the expedition: 

New Haven, May 25th, 1777. 
Dear General. — Having received information that the enemy 
were collecting forage, horses, &c., on the east end of Long Island, 
I ordered a detachment from the several regiments then at this 
place, consisting of one major, four captains, viz: Troop, Pond, 
^lansfield and Savage, and nine subalterns, and two hundred and 
twenty men, non-commissioned officers and privates, under the com- 
mand of Col. Meigs, to attack their different posts on that part of 
the Island, and destroy forage, &c., which they had collected. Col. 
Meigs embarked his men here, in thirteen whale boats, the 21st 
inst., and proceeded to Guilford, but the wind proving high and the 
sea rough, could not pass the Sound until Friday, the 23d. He 
left Guilford at one o'clock on the afternoon of the 23d, with one 
hundred and seventy of his detachment, and under convoy of two 
armed sloops, and in company with another unarmed, (to bring off 
prisoners), crossed the Sound to the north branch of the Island 
near Southold, where he arrived about 6 o'clock in the evening; 
the enemy's troojjs on this branch of the Island had marched for 
New York two days before; but about sixty of the enemy remain- 
ing at a place called Sag Harbor, about fifteen miles distant on the 
south branch of the Island, he ordered eleven whale boats, with as 
many men as could be safelj' transported across the bay, over the 



98 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

land to the bay, where they re-embarked to the number of one hun- 
dred and thirty, and at about twelve o'clock arrived safe across the 
bay, within four miles of the harbor, where having secured the 
boats in the woods under care of a guard, Col. Meigs formed his 
little remaining detachment in proper order for attacking the dif- 
ferent posts and quarters of the enemy, and securing the vessels 
and forage at the same time. They marched in the greatest order 
and silence, and at two o'clock arrived at the harbor. The several 
divisions, with fixed bayonets, attacked the guards and posts 
assigned them, whilst Capt. Troop, with the detachment under his 
command, secured the vessels and forage lying at the wharf. The 
alarm soon became general, when an armed schooner of twelve 
guns and seventy men, within one hundred and fifty yards of the 
wharf, began a fire upon our troops, which continued without cessa- 
tion for three-quarters of an hour, with grape and round shot, but 
the troops with the greatest intrepidity returned the fire upon the 
schooner and set fire to the vessels and forage and killed and 
captured all the soldiers and sailors, except about six, who made 
their escape under cover of the night. Twelve brigs and sloops, 
one an armed vessel with twelve guns, about one hundred and twenty 
tons of pressed hay, oats, corn and other forage, ten hogsheads of 
rum and a large quantity of other merchandise, were entirely con- 
sumed. It gives me the greatest satisfaction to hear the officers 
and soldiers without exception, behaved with the greatest bravery, 
order and intrepidity. 

Col. Meigs having finished the business on which he was sent, 
returned safe with all his men to Guilford by two o'clock P. M. 
yesterday, with ninety prisoners, having in twenty-five hours, by 
land and water, transported his men full ninety miles, and suc- 
ceeded in his attempts beyond my most sanguine expectations, with- 
out losing a single man, either killed or wounded. It gives me 
singular pleasure to hear no disposition appeared in any one soldier 
to plunder the inhabitants or violate private property in the smallest 
degree, and that even the clothing and other articles belonging to 
the prisoners, the soldiers, with a generosity not learned from 
British troops, have with great cheerfulness restored to them where 
they have fallen into their hands. 

Maj. Humphreys, who waits on your Excellency with the account, 
was in the action with Col. Meigs, and will be able to give any 
further necessary information. 

I am &c., 
To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 99 

In reply to Parsons' letter of the 25th, Washington wrote as 
follows : 

Headquarters, Middlebrook, 39th May, 1777. 

Dear Sir. — I was just now favored with your letter of the 25th 
by Major Humphreys. The intelligence communicated by it is 
truly interesting and agreeable, and now I shall take occasion, not 
only to give you my hearty approbation of your conduct in planning 
the expedition to Long Island, but to return my sincere thanks to 
Lieutenant Colonel ^Meigs and to all officers and men engaged in 
it. This enterprise, so fortunate in the execution, will greatly dis- 
tress the enemy in the important and essential article of forage, 
and reflects much honor on those who performed it. I shall be 
happy to reward merit when in my power, and therefore wish you 
to inquire for a vacant ensigncy in some of the regiments for Ser- 
geant Ginnings, to which you will promote him, advising me of the 
same and the time. 

As I could only repeat what I have said in my former letters to 
you and to Governor Trumbull on the subject of his and the 
Assembly's request for part of the troops to remain in Connecticut, 
it is unnecessary for me to say more respecting it, than that I can- 
not possibly comply with it at this time. The passes and fortifi- 
cations in the Highlands are of the last importance, and every 
means in our power must be employed to secure them. If the 
enemy's movements, which most probably will be understood in a 
little time, should be such as to show that Hudson's River is not 
their object, and the state of the troops will admit, I shall with 
great pleasure post a part of them about White Plains and Stam- 
ford, and give every protection I can to Connecticut, consistent 
with the general interest; but till these events take place, neither 
prudence nor policy will justify me in sparing men. You will, 
agreeably to my request, repair to Peekskill after making the neces- 
sary orders about the troops. 

I am, with great esteem &c.. 
To General Parsons. Geo. Washington. 

Congress voted a sword to Colonel Meigs in recognition of 
the " prudence, activity, enterprise and valor " with which the 
expedition had been conducted. The event was noted with 
commendation in General Orders. 

General Parsons having given the necessary orders respect- 
ing the recruiting and forwarding of the troops, repaired to 

LcfC. 



100 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Peekskill, as requested by Washington in his letter of the 29th 
of May. From that place, under date of June 12, he 
writes to Washington, acknowledging the receipt of his 
letters of the 25th and 29th, arid advising him of the condition 
in which he left the recruiting service and of the changes and 
promotions among the officers, and says : " Your Excellency's 
approbation of the expedition to Long Island affords me par- 
ticular satisfaction. I hope it will ever be my highest ambition 
to promote the highest good of my country." 



I 



CHAPTER XI 

Campaign of 1777. Parsons Reinforces Washington in New 
Jersey. Letter to His Wife. Burgoyne's Movement. Par- 
sons Ordered to the Defense of the Highlands. His Ex- 
pedition to Setauket. Brandywine and Germantown. Sur- 
render OF Burgoyne. 

December, 1787 — December, 1788 

Peekskill,, on the west side of the Hudson and at the southern 
gate of the Highlands, was selected by Washington as the 
rendezvous for the New York and New England troops for 
reasons which he states in his letter of March 12 to General 
Schuyler : — " If the troops are drawn together there, they will 
be advantageously situated to give support to any of the 
Eastern or Middle States. Should the enemy's design be to 
penetrate the country up the North River, they will be well 
placed to oppose them; should they attempt to penetrate into 
New England, they will be well stationed to cover it; if they 
move westward, the eastern and southern troops can easily form 
a junction; and, besides, it will oblige the enemy to leave a 
much stronger garrison at New York, and they will by no 
means be disadvantageously posted to reinforce Ticonderoga 
and cover the country around Albany." Soon after the battle 
of White Plains, the command at Peekskill was assigned to 
General Heath; but when he left for Massachusetts early in 
March, it devolved upon General McDougall, who, although 
appointed brigadier at the same time as Parsons, ranked him, 
his name standing one higher on the list. In June, McDougall 
was superseded by Putnam, Washington regarding the Post 
of such importance as to require a division commander. 

The British Ministry having advised General Howe that but 
a small part of the reinforcements asked for would be sent to 
America, he had abandoned his proposed attempt against New 
England and had written Carleton that he could not co-operate 
with the Northern Army by a movement in force up the 
Hudson. His plan now was, to proceed to Philadelphia by 

101 



102 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

water rather than risk a march through the Jerseys; but his 
first object was to bring on a general engagement and either 
destroy or greatly weaken the American Army. All this, 
however, was unknown to Washington, and consequently the 
movements of the enemy at the commencement of the campaign 
were very perplexing. The Highlands, New England or 
Philadelphia might be the object of attack, and his troops must 
be disposed so as to move readily to the support of either. 

Finding that General Howe was concentrating his whole 
available force at Brunswick, Washington began collecting his 
troops at Middlebrook, a very strong position about ten miles 
distant from the enemy. June 12, he ordered Putnam to send 
forward Generals Parsons, McDougall and Glover with all the 
Continental troops at Peekskill, except one thousand effective 
men, which, with the militia, were deemed sufficient to take care 
of the enemy east of the Hudson. These troops were " ordered 
to march in three divisions, each to follow one day's march 
behind the other, and each of the first two divisions to take 
with them two pieces of artillery." 

On the 14th, Parsons writes to Washington from Peeks- 
kill : — " The part of my brigade present and able to march has 
crossed the river according to your Excellency's order received 
yesterday. They number one hundred. ... It is not in my 
power to clothe them decently as I could wish. . . . They 
have no tents." He asks, " What shall be done with those 
who have not had the small pox." 

On the night of the 13th, Howe extended his left to Somer- 
set Court House, about nine miles, threatening our right, " the 
most accessible and weakest part of our line," but protecting 
himself from attack by keeping the Raritan River in his front. 
Here he remained until the night of the 19th, when he retreated 
somewhat precipitately to Brunswick, burning and plundering 
as he went. On Sunday, the 22d, he fell back to Amboy, Gen- 
eral Greene, with three brigades, pursuing as far as Piscataway, 
the main army being drawn up on the Heights ready to sup- 
port if occasion required. On the 24th, Washington, leaving 
his strong position in the hills, moved his whole army towards 
the enemy to Quibbletown. Perceiving this, Howe made a sud- 
den lunge at his left with his entire force with the evident 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 103 

intent of turning it, to avoid which Washington retired again 
to Middlebrook. The next day the enemy moved towards 
Samptown, our Hght troops in their rear and pursuing, and on 
the 30th, evacuated New Jersey. 

The following letter from General Parsons to his wife, writ- 
ten in camp, June 22, while these movements were still in 
progress, may not be uninteresting: — 

I have no way to tell you where I am, but by describing the 
place which has no name. Our camp is about two miles advanced 
in front of the mountain where the army is posted, on the road to 
Quibbletown, about one and a half miles north of that town, about 
two and one-half miles northwest of Samptown, about three miles 
west of Browestown, and about ten miles northwest of Spanktown, 
about eight miles northeast of Brunswick, six miles from Middle- 
brook, about one mile from the stream called Bound Brook, east- 
ward, but further distant from the village of that name. If you 
can find me by this description, I shall be rejoiced to hear from you. 
I expect to remove from this place very soon. Our neighborhood 
with the enemy gives us frequent skirmishes, though nothing very 
material has occurred since the rascals retreated in so scandalous 
a manner from Somerset Court House to Brunswick. Their grand 
encampment seems now to be extended from Brunswick to Amboy. 
We are induced to believe they are embarking for some other place, 
and this State will be clear of them; however, this is at present not 
certain. I think their retreat must have an exceeding good effect 
in every point of view. If they advance to Millstone or Somerset 
to try the credit they may give their friends, and see what number 
will join them, they must be greatly mortified to find almost every 
man who had received his Majesty's protection and most gracious 
pardon in arms against them. Not the militia only of this State, 
but almost every man in it able to bear arms, have voluntarily flown 
to arms on this occasion. If they designed to penetrate the country 
to Philadelphia, they are convinced it is impracticable. If they 
designed to turn the flank of our army, and draw us from our strong 
grounds, they are disappointed. 

The eff"ect this maneuver will have on their army and our forces, 
and on the minds of the disaft'ected in the country, will probably 
be of great advantage to us. Our army is now respectable, but not 
such that we incline to attack them in their strongholds at present; 
especially as delay is considered as fatal to them, if we prevent 
their penetrating the country. The general is very well and in 



104 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

good spirits; and our affairs have a more promising aspect than 
since the war began. Where their next movement will be is yet 
uncertain; perhaps, if I live, I may see you sooner than I expected 
when I left home. About one thousand of my brigade have joined 
us; more are expected every hour. Col. Butler and Major Sill are 
at Morristown; I expect they will soon have orders to join their 
brigades. Every necessary of life is exceedingly dear; salt is 
from ten to twenty dollars per bushel, and other things very ex- 
travagant. I am in very comfortable circumstances myself, though 
not very well. 

Since writing the above, the enemy have evacuated Brunswick, 
with great precipitation and evident signs of fear, and are fled to 
Amboy. They left Brunswick at ten o'clock, and Gen. Greene took 
possession by the time they were out. They left a considerable 
quantity of flour and other things, but I have not seen the return 
yet. We pursued them, and attacked their rear and flank, to Amboy, 
where they are going aboard their ships. This State is once more 
delivered from those pests of society; who will next be infested 
with them, is uncertain, but we are in high spirits, and ready to 
march to any part of the country. I expect orders to march very 
soon, perhaps to the North River again, where I shall write you. 
I am my dear with love to children, 

Your aff"ectionate husband, 

Samuel H. Parsons. 



The very next day after the retreat from New Jersey, Wash- 
ington received intelligence from General Schuyler, " that 
General Burgoyne is beginning to operate against Ticonderoga 
and its dependencies." Still in doubt as to the intentions of 
the enemy and anxious to provide against every contingency, 
he wrote Governor Trumbull in Connecticut on the 2d of July : 
— " If this movement is not a diversion but a serious attack, 
it is certain that the next step of General Howe's army will be 
towards Peekskill to get possession of the passes in the High- 
lands before this army can have time to form a junction with 
the troops already there. To guard against contingencies, I 
have ordered General Parsons' and General Varnum's brigades 
to march off with all dispatch towards Peekskill, and when 
they have arrived at or near that place, a reinforcement of four 
of the strongest Massachusetts regiments will proceed thence 
immediately to Albany on their way to Ticonderoga." 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 105 

July 2, Parsons' and Varnum's brigades broke camp at Mid- 
dlebrook and commenced their march to Peekskill, where they 
arrived about the 9th. July 15, while in camp at that Post, 
Parsons wrote to Washington at the request of Colonel Samuel 
B. Webb, a former aid-de-camp of his Excellency, who was 
apprehensive that he had fallen under Washington's dis- 
pleasure, explaining and justifying his conduct. He assured 
him that Webb had been active and diligent in recruiting, and 
had never been guilty of idleness or dissipation, and that he 
and his officers, in his opinion, did as well as any could have 
done under the circumstances. Tliis letter was probably called 
out by one from Washington to Colonel Webb, of June 7, in 
which he takes him severely to task for drawing five hundred 
suits of clothing for his regiment, when, by a return from 
General Parsons of May 13, it contained but two hundred 
and five men, rank and file. Webb seems to have placed his 
chief reliance on Parsons as his helper in time of trouble, and 
we frequently find Parsons interceding in his behalf. Their 
acquaintance began while Webb was acting as the secretary of 
Silas Deane, who, as well as Parsons, was a member of the 
Connecticut Committee of Correspondence. 

July 16, 1777, Parsons writes Washington, " that General 
Prescott of the British army, who had just been captured at 
his home near Newport by Lieut. Colonel Barton of the Rhode 
Island militia, is to be taken to Windham in Connecticut, which 
is by no means a place of safety, as it would be easy for him 
to eff^ect an escape to Long Island with the assistance of the 
dissaffected, and recommends that he be placed under the care 
of vigilant officers and be removed further from the Sound to 
some place where the people are generally well affected." The 
next day, Washington wrote Governor Trumbull repeating 
Parsons' recommendations, and asked the Governor to see that 
they were carried into effect. 

On the 21st of July, Parsons and Huntington, with their 
brigades, marched towards the Sound to oppose the enemy 
should they attempt to land upon the coast. Nothing being 
heard of them, the troops returned to camp on the 27th. 

The situation in the Highlands at this time was anything 
but inspiriting. The greater part of the force intended for 



106 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

its defense had been sent to the assistance of Schuyler, or drawn 
by Washington to his own army for the defense of Phila- 
delphia. Burgoyne's campaign was in full progress. On the 
7th of July, he had captured Ticonderoga, and now, on the 
30th, was at Fort Edward, less than sixty miles from Albany, 
with a perfectly equipped force of eight thousand men. St. 
Leger, operating from Oswego, was already near Fort Stanwix, 
(Rome, N. Y.) preparing to invest it with a thousand Indians 
and Tories. Sir Henry Clinton, from whom most was to be 
feared, was waiting with six thousand men in New York for an 
opportunity to form a junction with Burgoyne, seize the Posts 
in the Highlands and close the Hudson. " The importance of 
preventing this," wrote Washington to Putnam, on the 1st 
of August, " is infinite to America, and, in the present situation 
of things, every effort that can be thought of must be used." 
The responsibility of defending this vitally important position 
had been imposed on Putnam and Parsons, with no force at 
their command except Parsons' brigade of Continentals, about 
two thousand men, composed of the regiments of Wyllys, 
Charles Webb and Meigs, with the " additional regiments " of 
Samuel B. Webb and Sherburne. Under these trying circum- 
stances. Parsons, ever on the alert and anxious for the safety 
of the important Posts in his charge, wrote to Washington, as 

follows : — 

Peekskill, July 30th, 1777. 

Dear General. — The designs of the enemy and the importance 

of the Posts in the various parts of the country, are doubtless better 

understood by your Excellency than I can pretend to know them. 

This ought not to prevent my proposing my sentiments to your 

Excellency's consideration; in this I do no more than my duty, and, 

if I am mistaken, it can be of no ill consequence to anyone but 

myself. The Posts on the North River have always appeared to 

me of greater importance to the enemy than any in America and 

the most difficult to obtain if any considerable body of men were 

left to defend them. In this light they have been generally viewed, 

as the communication between the Eastern and Southern States will 

be almost wholly cut off if the enemy hold the passes in or near the 

river. When I was last at Headquarters, it was thought of so much 

importance, that Gen. Nixon's brigade was ordered not to march 

for Albany until I should arrive within a day's march of Peekskill, 

when three brigades and the militia would have then been left at 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 107 

the Post. If the Post is of so much importance to be held, and the 
intention of the enemy not fully known, it appears to me very 
necessary that a body of troops sufficient for the defense of it should 
be left here. The militia are to leave us to-morrow. Two brigades 
are ordered over the river for Philadelphia. About two thousand 
men are then left to defend the forts, man the shijDS and other com- 
mands and to defend the passes through the mountains, one thou- 
sand of which will be necessarily detached over the river and in the 
ships and to other Posts, the remaining number much too small to 
answer the expected purposes. That the enemy do not design to 
attack any other place at present I think most probable for these 
reasons: that no object can be of so much importance toward sub- 
jugating the country; and if a junction of Mr. Howe's army with 
that at the northward is an event they wish to take place, it can in 
no other way be so easily effected as by this river. The force left 
in and about York Island is certainly much larger than is necessary 
for the defense of New York. I think there can be no doubt but 
they have six thousand men left there, and unless this army is much 
greater than I conceive it to be, he cannot have, with the fleet, men 
sufficient to effect anything considerable against the force he would 
expect to meet at any other place southward of this Post. On these 
grounds I am still of opinion the enemy are designed here, and the 
present maneuver is to draw off our troops from this place. The 
difficulty of carrying the Post if a good body of troops were left 
here, I think will fully justify the maneuver of the enemy. They 
have never attempted to obstruct our passage over the river, which 
was always in their power. This I think strengthens the opinion 
they design to attack here. Under these circumstances I feel myself 
exceedingly concerned that so many of the troops are drawn to so 
great a distance. 'Tis not my own reputation onl}^ which gives me 
so much concern, though I am very sensible the little I have will be 
forever lost if the Post is not maintained, and I think the most 
sanguine person can have very little hope of it with no greater 
force than will remain here. With the four brigades and what 
assistance we can have from the militia there might be a prospect 
of maintaining it against the main body of the enemy until your 
Excellency's arrival here; otherwise I see very little prospect of 
holding out one day. However, I hope I may be mistaken in my 
conjecture; if I should be, I shall be heartily rejoiced. The two 
brigades should join you, and I wish I may be added to the 
number. I am your Excellency's obedient servant, 

Samuel H. Parsons. 
To General Washington. 



108 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

In August, 1777, Colonel Richard Hewlett, with two hundred 
and sixty Queens County Loyalists, had fortified himself in the 
Presbyterian Meeting House at Setauket, on the Long Island 
shore nearly opposite Fairfield and at the head of the little 
bay of that name. About the middle of the month. General 
Parsons prepared an expedition to surprise and capture this 
force. The following are the orders issued to him by General 
Putnam, the commander of the Connecticut Division : — 

Headquarters, August 16, 1777. 

You are hereby required to take under your command a detach- 
ment from the Continental Army and proceed to the sea coast near 
Fairfield and procure a number of boats to transport four or five 
hundred men, and such small armed or other vessels as you find 
necessary and proper. 

You are to make a descent on Long Island and deplete and destroy 
such parties of the enemy as are found at Huntington and Setauket 
or other place on the Island, and, if you find it practicable without 
too great hazard, you are to retake and bring off all the officers and 
soldiers of the Continental Army now on Long Island. 

If any military stores, magazines, provisions, forage or naval 
stores are found on the Island, you are to bring off or destroy them. 
You are to procure such information before you attempt to go on 
as will render the descent possible and the design practicable. If 
you find the position of the enemy on the Island or the ships in 
the Sound such as you judge will not facilitate the carrying the 
design into execution, you will not attempt it. This is left to your 
judgement. If that should be the case, you will return by way of 
White Plains and receive further orders. You will take such men 
from the militia or the troops necessary for the defense of the 
State of Connecticut, in addition to the Continental troops, found 
necessary, and also a field piece. From the sea coast you will be 
careful to secure the return of your men to the Main in such 
manner and from such place as you judge most eff"ectual after 
having effected the business you were sent to perform. 

Wishing you success, I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 

Israel Putnam. 

Parsons' orders of August 16, to Colonel Samuel B. Webb 
of his brigade, were as follows : — 

Sir. — You will have your command paraded in the street in front 



I 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 109 

of Colonel Wyllys' regiment at 12 o'clock, provided with arms, 
thirty rounds of ammunition and three days' provisions, and march 
them to Crompond where you will open the enclosed, which will 
give you further directions. This you will communicate to no one 
until you march forward. 

Yr. humble serv't. 
To Colonel Samuel B. Webb. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Parsons took with him on this expedition about five hundred 
men and several pieces of brass cannon. On the 21st, soon after 
his arrival at Fairfield, he issued the following general order 
to his troops prescribing the conduct to be observed by them 
on the march: — 

Fairfield, August 21, 1777. 
Orders of Brigadier General Parsons: 

On the present expedition, 'tis of the first importance to the suc- 
cess of the enterprise and the credit, honor and safety of the troops, 
that the most exact order and discipline be observed, and the honor 
of our arms and the righteousness of our contest will be made 
manifest to the world and our enemies by the regular and orderly 
behavior of the officers and soldiers. 'Tis not from base and mer- 
cenary motives, 'tis not to distress the helpless women or honest 
citizen we draw our swords, but from the noble and generous prin- 
ciple of maintaining the right of humanity and vindicating the 
liberties of freemen. The officers and soldiers are therefore most 
earnestly exhorted and strictly commanded to forbear all violation 
of personal property; not the least article is to be taken but by 
orders ; we are to convince our enemies we despise their practices 
and scorn to follow their example. But should any person be so 
lost to all virtue and honor as to infringe this order, he or they may 
depend on the most exemplary punishment. 

No officer is to suffer a soldier to leave his ranks on any pretence 
whatever and the greatest silence on the march is to be observed. 

Saml. H. Parsons. 

Landing on Crane's Neck very early in the morning, General 
Parsons demanded the surrender of the Post ; but " by means 
of some infernal Tory," says the Boston Gazette, " which shows 
how much we suff^er from internal foes who get knowledge of 
our most secret moments and find means to convey it to the 
enemy." Hewlett had obtained intelligence of the intended sur- 
prise, and protected the church so effectively by breastworks 



110 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

six feet high, thrown up thirty feet from the building, in 
which were mounted four swivel guns, that, with the means at 
hand, the Post was practically impregnable. The enemy refus- 
ing to surrender. Parsons opened on them with his guns, but 
failing to make any considerable impression, and fearing that 
the British fleet on the Sound might be attracted by the firing, 
he withdrew, not, however, without capturing a quantity of 
blankets and twelve or thirteen horses belonging to the British, 
and returned to Connecticut the next day in safety. 

At Norwalk upon his return, General Parsons issued the 
following further order to Colonel Webb: — 

Norwalk, August 29. 1777. 
You are to proceed with the detachment under your command 
to Horseneck or Sawpits, as you think safe and convenient for 
securing your boats, protecting the country and carrying into exe- 
cution the designs the detachment was sent out for. Take care that 
the whale boats are kept under a good guard. When they are not 
in use, you will send parties to Hempstead Harbor, Great Neck 
or such other parts of Long Island as you find safe, to destroy the 
forage and other things collected for the enemy's use . 
Every method you can devise to deceive the enemy and blind the 
people, may be advisable to pursue." 

S. H. Parsons. 
To Col. Samuel B. Webb. 

Along the Connecticut shore from Rye to Norwalk, and 
especially in the vicinity of Horseneck and Saw Pits (Green- 
wich and Port Chester), were numerous shallow inlets where 
were concealed during the war large numbers of whale boats, 
usually thirty feet long, fitted with from four to twenty oars 
and very fast, which were employed in raids upon the enemy 
on Long Island, both by the inhabitants and the military 
authorities. Darting across the Sound under cover of night 
or during a dense fog, and running into inlets on the southern 
shore, they would harass and annoy the enemy, sometimes 
plundering, sometimes taking prisoners, occasionally cutting 
out small vessels and often destrojdng large quantities of 
forage and stores collected for the use of the enemy. 

The day Webb received his orders to march to Crompond, 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 111 

the battle of Bennington was fought, so disastrous to Bur- 
goyne. On the 22d, while Parsons was at or near Setaukct, 
St. Leger, abandoning the siege of Fort Stanwix, retreated to 
Canada. On the same day, Washington received the news 
which relieved him of all doubt as to the intentions of the 
enemy and determined his future movements, the news that 
Howe's fleet was anchored in Chesapeake Bay. From this on 
events followed in rapid succession. 

On the 22d of August, Howe disembarked his army, and by 
the 23d of September, Cornwallis' and Knyphausen's Divisions 
were on their march to Philadelphia. Our army having 
advanced beyond the Brandywine to within a few miles of Wil- 
mington, Howe pushed forward thinking to turn the American 
right and gain their rear; but Washington, divining his pur- 
pose, crossed the river in the night, and taking position on the 
high ground above Chad's Ford, still barred Howe's road to the 
north. 

Leaving Knyphausen to make a feint of attacking the 
American left at Chad's Ford, which was commanded by Wash- 
ington in person, Howe, with Cornwallis' division, crossed the 
Brandywine at an unguarded ford seven miles higher up the 
river, and fell upon the right wing under Sullivan before he 
had time to form, throwing his troops into confusion and 
causing a precipitate retreat through the woods in his rear; 
but Washington, hastening to his support, was able to check 
the pursuit. In the meanwhile, Knyphausen, knowing by the 
firing that Cornwallis was engaged, crossed at Chad's Ford 
and attacked the American intrenchments in earnest. These 
were strongly held by Wayne's Division, and for some time the 
contest was warm and well sustained. During the night the 
whole army retreated to Chester and the next day to German- 
town. 

Three weeks after this, on the 4th of October, the battle of 
Germantown was fought, in which the Americans nearly gained 
a complete victory, and failed only because a dense fog which 
prevailed prevented their seeing the confusion of the enemy and 
the decided advantage they had gained. In each of these 
battles the American loss was nearly one-third greater than that 
of the British. In November, both armies prepared to go into 



112 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

winter quarters, Howe in Philadelphia, and Washington at 
White Marsh, fourteen miles from Philadelphia. 

While events in Pennsylvania were resulting so favorably 
for Howe, the outlook in the north for Burgoyne had become 
very dark and depressing. His army was disheartened by the 
failure of St. Leger's expedition and the disaster at Benning- 
ton. Lincoln, in his rear with two thousand men, had cut off 
his communications with Canada, taken possession of several 
Posts, threatened Ticonderoga and destroyed two hundred 
vessels, all important to Burgoyne were he forced to retreat. 
With no alternative but to fight or surrender, on the morning 
of the 19th of September, he moved out of his fortified camp 
on the Heights of Saratoga towards Bemis Heights, where 
Gates was encamped, and offered battle. The severe engage- 
ment which ensued was terminated only by darkness, both 
armies claiming the victory and both sleeping on their arms 
upon the field. It was a soldier's battle on the American side, 
no general oflScer except Arnold and Learned appearing during 
the action. The next day Burgoyne fell back to the high 
grounds two miles north of the American lines. Here he 
remained for more than two weeks, cheered only by the news 
of Howe's victory on the Brandywine, awaiting the promised 
aid from Clinton. Hearing nothing from him, he called a 
council of officers on the eve of the 4th of October, the very 
day that Germantown was fought and that Clinton began his 
movement up the Hudson, at which it was decided, as a last 
desperate resort, to again attack the American camp. Advanc- 
ing with his entire force on the morning of the 7th, the two 
armies became almost immediately engaged. The fighting was 
fierce and determined on both sides and continued with little 
intermission until night, ending with the complete rout of the 
Germans and the retreat of the British a mile beyond their 
intrenchments. Ten days after, destitute of provisions, unable 
to advance or retreat, with no tidings from Clinton (for the 
spy who bore a message from him enclosed in a silver bullet 
had been captured and hanged), Burgoyne, on the 17th of 
October, surrendered his whole army prisoners of war. 



CHAPTER XII 

Paksons at White Plains. Putnam Plans to Attack New 
York. Clinton, Reinforced, Attempts to Relieve Bur- 
GOYNE. Captures the Posts on the Hudson. Parsons For- 
wards Reinforcements from Connecticut. James De- 
Lancey a Prisoner. Tryon Burns Phillips Manor. The 
Parsons-Tryon Correspondence. 

September — December, 1777 

Upon his return from the expedition to Setauket, General Par- 
sons, by Putnam's orders, went into camp with his brigade at 
White Plains. " By being there," as Putnam wrote Washing- 
ton from his Headquarters at Peekskill, September 16, " he 
answers a double purpose — to protect that part of the country 
from the incursions of the enemy, and he is, in my opinion, 
equally, or a greater security to this Post than if they laid 
here, as he is under advantages to learn their first movements." 
He was also in a convenient position, a fact to which Wash- 
ington's attention was not called, to aid in carrying out a plan 
Putnam had formed for making a simultaneous attack on the 
enemy at Staten Island, Paulus Hook, York Island and Long 
Island. This plan was favored by Governor Trumbull, who 
had encouraged expectations of large reinforcements of 
Connecticut militia, which, with the Continental troops under 
his command and the assistance he might procure from New 
York and New Jersey, Putnam believed would enable him to 
execute his design. Anticipating an early movement, he 
obtained through General Parsons accurate information of the 
strength and disposition of the enemy's force and the location 
and armament of their Works, as appears from the following 
letter : — 

White Plains, September 20, 1777. 
Dear General. — I find General Clinton returned from Jersey 
last Tuesday, and brought about 200 head of cattle and some 
horses. 

113 



114 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The 35th and 57th Regiments of British troops, one Battalion of 
Hessians, consisting of three or four regiments, two regiments of 
DeLancey's Brigade, Brown's Corps, Fanning's Regiment and the 
York volunteers, are encamped on the hill between Kingsbridge 
and Fort Washington; Robinson's Regiment and Hierlehy's Inde- 
pendent Companies at Morrisania. A picket of fifty men in each 
Redoubt on this side of the Bridge is all their Horse except a de- 
tachment from the new Corps of Rangers armed with rifles, about 
500 in number, and the Light Horse. 

The Redoubts are in a line from Fort Independence to the hill 
a little N. Westerly of Richard Morris' house. They are strongly 
abutted and have a ditch without and horizontal pickets projecting 
over the ditch. In the southernmost Redoubt are two twelve 
pounders; in the next to that are four embrasures, but no cannon 
mounted; in each Redoubt, one cohorn. 

The return of General Clinton before we could march to the 
Bridge after notice of the enemy's march, has hitherto prevented 
any attempt that way. 'Tis by the Field Officers thought ad- 
visable to rest a few days till their present alarm has a little sub- 
sided. The speedy return of the enemy from Jersey, I am informed 
was occasioned by information Mr. Clinton received that General 
Putnam was moving down in force to attack the Posts at the 
Bridge. 

This is the best account I am yet able to procure of the enemy's 
strength at the Bridge. There are also some foreign troops at 
Fort Washington and on Tippet's Hill not included before, and also 
the 7th and 63d British at Harlem. The Grenadiers and Light 
Infantry of the British regiments were completed to fifty men and 
went with the main Army. 

I have two deserters, one Green Coat and one British soldier, 
who will soon be sent up. This moment another British deserter 
has come in. He says a reinforcement of 5000 men are expected 
every day, when General Clinton proposes to attack the Posts in 
the Highlands. 

I am. Sir, yr. obedt. servt., 
To Major General Putnam. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Putnam's project, however, very much to his disappoint- 
ment, was put an end to for the time, by Washington's order 
" to detach as many effective rank and file as will make the 
whole number, including those with General McDougall, amount 
to twenty-five hundred privates and non-commissioned officers 



I 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 115 

fit for duty." These troops were undoubtedly sadly needed in 
Washington's Army, but it soon became evident that the 
detachment of so large a body had endangered the defense of 
the Highlands. On the 27th, Putnam wrote Colonel Malcom 
"to join Parsons brigade which he had ordered up from 
White Plains." 

Late in September, the reinforcement referred to in Par- 
sons' letter, which Sir Henry Clinton had so long and so im- 
patiently waited for, arriving in New York after a three months' 
voyage. Early intelligence of this was obtained by Parsons, 
probably through the same spies who had furnished the infor- 
mation as to the strength and disposition of the enemy, and 
promptly communicated to Putnam in the following letter: — 

White Plains, September 26, 1777. 

Dear General. — I have a large party just returned from East 
Chester, from whence they crossed through " Mile Square " to 
Phillip's, with small parties advanced against the enemy; by them 
and in a variety of other ways, I learn the enemy design an excur- 
sion into the country, probably as far as Croton River, their object 
being to clear the country of cattle &c. Yesterday, they had a 
Field Day, at which all the militia of Westchester were obliged to 
attend. They have ordered their bakers to work day and night to 
prepare hard bread for the purpose. 'Tis also said the ships are 
to go up the River to receive troops if necessary. Colonel Byard 
with his regiment, came over from Powle's Hook yesterday, and two 
deserters who came in this morning, say they understood the Post 
was evacuated. By every circumstance I can find, I think they will 
be out of this business very soon, perhaps in a day or two. I ought 
not to forget to mention that the enemy have a considerable num- 
ber of Horse. 

27th.— I have this moment received accounts by Mr. Fanning 
from New York, that sixty ships arrived the day before yesterday 
with recruits. He says he judges by the best intelligence he can 
get, they amount to three thousand and upwards, British and Ger- 
man troops; this perhaps may alter the face of affairs and perhaps 
may enable them to make a real attack on the North River Posts. 

I am yours &c.. 
To General Putnam. S. H. Parsons. 

This information was communicated by Putnam to Governor 



116 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Clinton, who reported his action thereon to Washington in the 
following letter : — 

New Windsor, October 9, 1777. 
Dear General. — I have to inform you, that, in consequence of 
intelligence received by General Putnam from General Parsons 
[who lay with his brigade at White Plains] of the enemy having 
received a reinforcement from Europe at New York, and that by 
their movements there was reason to believe they intended an attack 
on Peekskill, and to possess themselves of the passes in the High- 
lands, the General immediately wrote to me these circumstances ; 
and to prevent if possible the disagreeable consequences that might 
arise if the army at the different posts was not timely reinforced, 
I ordered that part of the militia of the State that had not already 
marched northward, to move, and part of them to join General 
Putnam, and the remainder to reinforce the Posts of Fort Mont- 
gomery and Fort Clinton; but it being a critical time with the 
Yeomanry, as they had not yet sown their grain, and there being 
at that time no appearance of the enemy, they were extremely rest- 
less and uneasy. They solicited General Putnam for leave to 
return, and many of them went home without his permission. Urged 
by these considerations, he thought proper to dismiss a part of 
them, 

The easy-going ways of Putnam were evidently not pleasing 
to the Governor, for he immediately called out one-half of the 
militia, to be relieved by the other half at the end of a month. 
But before he was able to strengthen his posts, Sir Henry Clin- 
ton had commenced his predicted movement. On the morning 
of the 4th of October, he set sail up the Hudson with three or 
four thousand men, and, on the 5th, landed at Verplancks 
Point, a few miles below Peekskill, threatening that Post. On 
the sixth, under cover of a dense fog, he crossed the River with 
some two thousand men, and, after a sharp fight, captured 
Forts Clinton and Montgomery, commanded by the Governor 
and liis brother. General James Clinton, both of whom were 
fortunate enough to escape, though the latter was badly 
wounded. What happened on the 6th on the east side of the 
River, Putnam details in a letter to Washington written from 
Fishkill on the 8th :— 

The morning being so exceedingly foggy, the pickets and scouts 
which we had out, could not learn the exact number of the enemy 



I 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 117 

that were remaining on the east side of the river; but from the 
best accounts, tliey were about fifteen hundred. At the same time 
a number of ships and galleys with about forty flat boats, made 
every appearance of their intention to land troops both at Fort 
Independence and Peekskill Landing. These circumstances, and 
my strength, being not more than twelve hundred Continental troops 
and three hundred militia, prevented me from detaching a party 
to attack the enemy that day on the east side of the river. 

After we had thought it impracticable to quit the heights, which 
we had then possession of, and attack the enemy, Brigadier General 
Parsons and myself went to reconnoiter the ground near the 
enemy; and on our return from thence we were alarmed with 
a very heavy and hot firing, both of small arms and of cannon, at 
Fort Montgomery, which immediately convinced me that the enemy 
had landed a large body of men in the morning on the west side 
of the river. Upon which I immediately detached five hundred men 
to reinforce the garrison; but before they could possibly cross the 
river to their assistance, the enemy, far superior in numbers, had 
possessed themselves of the Fort. . . . Governor Clinton ar- 
rived at Peekskill the same evening about eleven o'clock, and with 
the advice of him. General Parsons and several other officers., it was 
thought impossible to maintain the post at Peekskill with the force 
then present against one that the enemy might in a few hours bring 
on the heights in our rear. It was therefore agreed, that the stores 
ought to be immediately removed to some secure place, and the 
troops take post at Fishkill until a reinforcement of militia shall 
come to their aid. 

I am &c., 
To General Washington. Israel Putnam. 

The next morning, October 7th, General Parsons hastened 
to Danbury, thirty miles distant, to hurry forward the troops 
coming to Putnam's assistance. Reaching Danbury the same 
day, Parsons writes to Governor Trumbull as to the prospect 
for reinforcements and gives him an account of the attack on 
Fort Montgomery. On the 9th, having joined Putnam at 
Peekskill, he again writes Trumbull, advising him that the 
enemy are advancing, and urging the absolute necessity of all 
who can bear arms marching immediately to Poughkeepsie, 
and the importance of defeating Clinton before he reaches 
Albany. The following are the two letters to Trumbull of 
the 7th and 9th:— 



118 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Danbury, October 7th 1777. 

Sir. — I came this morning to forward with all possible expedi- 
tion, such troops as I should find coming to our aid from Connecti- 
cut. I am much pleased to find my countrymen seem again roused 
from the stupor which had seized them. I think by appearances 
that we shall soon receive a reinforcement of two thousand men 
from this State. Happy would I have been had the fourth of this 
body arrived yesterday. 

I am sorry to inform your Excellency that the enemy made a 
successful attack on Fort Montgomery yesterday. The 5th, they 
landed about fifteen hundred men at King's Ferry, on the east side 
of the river, under cover of their ships and armed vessels, and the 
night after re-embarked most of them, which, with a large addi- 
tional number (about twenty-five hundred in the whole) were landed 
on the west side (the 6th) in the morning, keeping a large reserve 
on board at King's Ferry. 

About ten o'clock the enemy began to attack the Fort, which 
lasted without cessation until nearly half past six in the evening, 
when the Fort was carried by storm after eight or ten unsuccessful 
attempts, in which they were repulsed with great loss. The courage 
and bravery displayed by the troops (principally militia from New 
York) who defended the Post, would do honor to the best disci- 
plined regiments. No terms would be accepted, but with fortitude 
seldom found, they undauntedly stood the shock, determined to 
defend the Fort or sell their lives as dear as possible. The Fort 
was finally taken, merely for want of men to man the lines, and not 
for want of spirit in the men. But about five hundred was afforded 
to man the Post and outworks belonging to them, a number of men 
not more than sufficient to defend the largest Fort. The Post on 
the east side was left in a weak, defenseless state, and could afford 
but little aid. 

Thus was a Post of importance, and the lives and liberties of 
some of the bravest men, made a sacrifice to the careless inattention 
of our countrymen to objects of great and extensive public impor- 
tance. The enemy must have suffered much, as for more than three 
houi's of this attack the musketry was incessant within forty yards, 
and less a greater part of the time. Gov. Clinton, who commanded, 
and Col. Lamb and some other officers, escaped after the enemy had 
entered. Gen. James Clinton was wounded and is a prisoner. Maj. 
Humphrey, Col. Dubois, Lieut. Col. Livingston and sundry other 
officers are missing. 

This event is unfortunate, but I hope will not be attended by any 
very ill consequences. I think a little more patience and public 



I 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 119 

virtue, (which is now very scarce,) will set all things right 

again. 

I am, with esteem, your Excellency's obedient servant, 

rr J n Samuel H. Parsons. 

1 o (jrovernor 1 rumbuLl. 

Peekskill, October 9th 1777. 

Sir. — I wrote yesterday from Danbury an account of the mis- 
fortune which had befallen this Post merely for the want of a 
timely reinforcement of men sufficient to man the lines. On that 
head I can only add, that should this misfortune have the happy 
effect to rouse my countrymen to more vigorous exertions, and to 
the exercise of a degree of patience, submission and perseverance 
necessary to accomplish anything great, or save the country from 
inevitable ruin, we may consider the event as fortunate, rather than 
as an event from which any ill effects will follow. 

Gov. Clinton, his brother. Gen. James Clinton, Col. Lamb, Maj. 
Humphrey and most of the officers and a great part of the men who 
were supposed to be lost, have got in, many of them badly 
wounded. The garrison was defended with the utmost bravery: 
no men could do more. Our loss cannot yet be ascertained: I hope 
not so considerable as we feared. The army of the enemy are now 
advancing. We have no doubt Albany is their object. Should they 
attack this Post, from which they are seven miles distant, and the 
same spirit of inattention seize our countrymen, I fear you will hear 
no better news from here. We shall fight the enemy if possible. 
We shall do our utmost to defend ourselves if attacked. The troops 
are in good spirits. The issue is in the disposal of the great Arbiter 
of all events. I think it of absolute necessity that all who can bear 
arms and can be spared, should be immediately sent forward to 
Poughkeepsie, except those on their march for this Post, who will 
join us here. 

Gen. Clinton, who commands the British forces in person, must 
be defeated at Albany, or before he arrives there, or Gen. Gates 
will be undone. Every exertion is necessary to animate and en- 
courage the people in this important crisis. That we are embarked 
in the cause of justice and truth — in the cause of God and man- 
kind — is beyond a doubt. That we shall finally succeed, I think 
equally certain. When public spirit prevails over private interest — 
and injustice (so scandalously prevalent at this time) is restrained, 
and religion and virtue and a sense of our dependence on Heaven 
for all our mercies, and especially deliverance from imminent dan- 
ger, takes the place of vain confidence in our own arm and on our 
own strength, then and not till then, will our salvation be brought 



120 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

out; but I cannot say that a profound belief of these things, and a 
careless neglect of using the means put into our hands for our own 
deliverance, is any evidence of the sincerity of our profession. 

As Gen. Putnam is exceedingly busy, I have wrote by his desire. 
I have the honor to be 

Your Excellency's obedient servant 
To Governor Trumbull. Samuel H. Parsons. 

On the first of October, Putnam had not to exceed two 
thousand men in the Highlands with which to defend Forts 
Clinton and Montgomery, Independence and Constitution, the 
Posts of Peekskill and Fishkill and the mountain passes. Clin- 
ton's force was not only twice as large, but, being on trans- 
ports, could be landed when and where he chose and accomplish 
his purpose before Putnam could possibly concentrate troops 
enough to prevent him. Almost without effort he was able to 
reduce the forts, the effect of which was, as Washington, on 
the 8th, wrote to Governor Livingston would be the case, " to 
open the navigation of the River and enable the enem}'- with 
facility to throw their forces into Albany, get into the rear 
of General Gates and either oblige him to retreat, or put him 
between two fires." Had Clinton moved ten days earlier, Bur- 
goyne's campaign might have had a different ending, but the 
chances are that if the troops assigned to the defense of the 
Highlands had not been ordered south, the movement up the 
River would never have been attempted. His reasons for with- 
drawing the troops, Washington gives in his answer to Gover- 
nor Clinton's letter of the 9th : — " Nothing," he says, " but an 
absolute necessity could have induced me to withdraw any 
further part of the troops allotted for the defence of the Posts 
up the North River ; but such was the reduced state of our Con- 
tinental regiments after the battle of Brandywine, and such the 
difficulty of procuring reinforcements of militia from the 
southward, that without the troops from Peekskill, we should 
scarcely have been able to keep the field against General Howe. 
I had the greatest hopes that General Putnam would draw in as 
many Connecticut militia as would replace the Continental 
troops, and I make no doubt that he did all in his power to 
obtain them in time." In his order to Putnam of September 
23, withdrawing these troops, Washington had said : — " It is 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 121 

our first object to defeat, if possible, the army now opposed to 
us here. That the passes in the Highlands may be perfectly 
secure, you will immediately call in all your forces now on com- 
mand at outposts. You must not think of covering a whole 
country by dividing them ; and when they are ordered in and 
drawn together, they will be fully competent to repel any 
attempt that can be made by the enemy from below in their 
present situation." The Connecticutt militia had been reserved 
for this very purpose, Massachusetts men having been used to 
reinforce Gates, but the difficulty was to obtain them in time. 
An emergency would come and go before they could be assem- 
bled, and therein was the danger of depending on them for 
the defense of the important posts of the Highlands. Parsons 
secured two thousand militia on the 7th, but " happy would he 
have been had the fourth of this body arrived the day before." 

The Highlands could have been defended against Howe as 
well in Pennsylvania as on the Hudson, but not against Clin- 
ton. To reinforce the depleted regiments of Washington at 
the expense of the Highlands, would seem to have . been a 
dangerous expedient at the best, and not to be resorted to 
merely to prevent the capture of Philadelphia — a place of no 
strategic value to either side — when it would have invited attack 
on the most vital point in the whole confederacy, endangered 
the control of the Hudson and imperiled the communications 
between New England and the other States, the severing of 
which meant little less than the utter collapse of the revolution. 
As it turned out, it was not in the Highlands, but at Saratoga, 
that the control of the Hudson was secured. Burgoyne's 
defeat on the 7th, and his subsequent surrender, garrisoned 
the Highland posts more strongly than the whole arm}' could 
have done, drove Clinton back to New York and ended the last 
attempt of the British to obtain possession of the river by 
arms. 

On the morning of the 7th of October, after breaking the 
boom across the river, Clinton's whole force of thirty-six hun- 
dred men under the command of General Vaughn, sailed up the 
Hudson, with the object of creating a diversion in favor of 
Burgoyne and preventing the militia from joining Gates. 
They took Fort Constitution on the way, destroyed every vessel 



122 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

found on the river and fired into many country seats along the 
shores. On the 13th, they burned Kingston, then the capital 
of the State. Continuing up the river to Livingston Manor, 
they were there arrested in the midst of their work of destruc- 
tion by the news of Burgoyne's surrender, and made a hasty 
retreat towards New York. 

After the conference on the night of the sixth, following 
the capture of Forts Montgomery and Clinton, General Put- 
nam, as advised by Governor Clinton, General Parsons and 
other officers, withdrew from Peekskill and established his 
headquarters at Fishkill, just north of the Highlands. Three 
days later, October 9, General Tryon was detached with 
Emmerick's Chasseurs and other German troops, to destroy 
Continental village, near the southern entrance of the High- 
lands, where a few months before barracks had been con- 
structed capable of accommodating two thousand men. This 
he accomplished effectually. The barracks and nearly every 
house in the village, together with the public stores, were con- 
sumed and many cattle slaughtered. 

After reinforcement by the Connecticut militia, Putnam 
reported to General Washington as follows : 

Fishkill, October 16th 1777. 
Sir. — Last Monday, the thirteenth, General Parsons with about 
two thousand troops, marched down and took possession of Peeks- 
kill and the passes in the Highlands. He has taken a number of 
cattle, horses and sheep which were collected by the enemy. They 
had burned the buildings and barracks at Continental village and 
several dwellings and other buildings at Peekskill. They have de- 
molished Forts Montgomery and Constitution and are repairing Fort 
Clinton. Yesterday about forty sail passed up the River crowded 
with troops, and are anchored at Poughkeepsie, the wind not favor- 
ing. We were on our march after them, when I met the agreeable 
intelligence of the surrender of General Burgoyne and his army as 
prisoners of war, a copy of which is enclosed. I thereupon most 
sincerely congratulate your Excellency. I have halted my troops 
and am now considering what ought to be my movement. I have 
sent to Governor Clinton for his opinion and ordered General Par- 
sons to spare no pains to find out the situation at Kingsbridge in 
order to direct my future operations advantageously. I have about 
six thousand troops who are chiefly militia. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 123 

Fishkill, October 13, 1777, Lieut. Colonel Oswald writing 
to Colonel Lamb of the artillery, says : 

General Parsons is at Peekskill. This morning " Old Put " 
came and ordered me to send ofF Capt. Lockwood with his two pieces 
to join him; and I am told we are all to go down to White Plains. 
This morning General Parsons sent intelligence that Clinton had 
been reinforced from New York and is determined to push up the 
River. 

The reinforcement referred to is probably the " forty sail " 
mentioned in Putnam's report. While General Parsons was at 
Peekskill, the enemy, on their way down the river, landed at 
Verplancks Point. Discovering that Parsons was preparing 
to attack, they re-embarked precipitately and thus thwarted 
his design, as appears from the following letter from him to 
Governor Trumbull: 

Peekskill, October 22d, 1777. 

Sir. — The enemy prevented our designed attack upon them by a 
very sudden embarkation of their troops on board their ships, which 
still lie off VeriDlancks Point. Every favorable opportunity has 
offered for their going to New York, but no movements have taken 
place. Their Northern Army is more within your Excellency's 
knowledge than mine. If we should soon be ordered toward New 
York, I think some aid from Connecticut will be much wanted. As 
I understand, fourteen hundred men are ordered from the east side 
of the Connecticut River to join Gen. Gates; under his present situa- 
tion would it not be best to order them to join this part of the army 
as soon as possible. 

The militia from this post are all returned home. 

I am your Excellency's obedient servant, 

S. H. Parsons. 
To Governor Trumbull. 

On the 26th of October, Forts Montgomery and Clinton 
were evacuated, and the same day, the British fleet left for 
New York with all their transports and troops. To Putnam's 
letter, reporting this, Washington replied, November 4, 
expressing his satisfaction at the enemy's retreat, and saying 
that " by their doing this and sending a reinforcement to 
General Howe, it is evident that they have done with all 



124 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

thoughts of attempting anything further to the northward. 
Having lost one army, it is certainly their interest and inten- 
tion to make the other as respectable as possible, and, as now 
their force is nearly drawn together at one point, Philadel- 
phia, it is undoubtedly our plan to endeavor to destroy 
General Howe." 

The same day Washington wrote to General Dickinson in 
New Jersey, who, like Putnam, was planning to threaten New 
York in order to prevent reinforcements goirrg to Howe: — 

Your idea of counteracting the reinforcements for Howe's army 
by a demonstration of designs on New York, I think an exceeding 
good one, and am very desirous that you should improve and mature 
it for immediate execution. A great show of preparations on your 
part, boats collected, troops assembled, your expectation of the 
approach of Generals Gates and Putnam intrusted as a secret to 
persons who you are sure will divulge and disseminate it in New 
York ; in a word, such measures taken for effectually striking an 
alarm into that city, as it is altogether unnecessary for me minutely 
to describe to you, I am in great hopes will eflPect the valuable 
purpose you expect. 

General Parsons, ordered to White Plains presumably with 
reference to Putnam's contemplated movement against New 
York, writes on the 27th to Colonel Webb that he is " glad 
to be relieved from staying longer at Peekskill and wants noth- 
ing more than to be with his brigade and have Webb with him." 
November 3, Webb received orders to join the brigade, but 
after a few days his regiment was ordered to the coast and 
went into camp on Kingstreet, near Horseneck. The following 
extracts from Webb's diary, as given in his Life and Letters, 
edited by Worthington C. Ford, are interesting as showing 
Parsons' movements during the month while preparations were 
in progress against New York: 

Horseneck, Wednesday, Nov. 5. Arrived here from Stamford 
about 9 A. M. ; found General Parsons quartered at Knapp's. 

Nov. 14, 1777. Quarters between Mamaroneck and White 
Plains. Returned from Horseneck with General Parsons and dined 
at my Quarters ; preparing for a march. 

Sunday, Nov, l6. Rode with General Parsons to Horseneck. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 125 

Wednesday, Nov. ip. This forenoon rode to Mamaroneck, and 
from thence to White Plains in company with Maj. Gen. Putnam 
and Brigadier Parsons. Every movement indicates something speed- 
ily to be done. 

Rye, Nov. 21. This being Thanksgiving Day, rode with Gen. 
Parsons, Major Huntington and Captain Bull to Knapp's in Horse- 
neck. 

Rye, Nov. 21. Note from Gen. Parsons that he had received 
information that the enemy intended to burn Tarrytown, and to 
have regiment ready to march on shortest notice. 

Saturday, Nov. 29. Last night scouting party went down to 
West Chester and made prisoner of Col. James DeLancey [later of 
the Refugee Corps] and several others. 

Nov. 30. With Brigadier Parsons rode to Horseneck. 

Dec. 2. Horseneck. With Gen. Parsons and Col. DeLancey, 
dined at Mr. Bushes. 

Dec. 3. At one P. M., Brigadier Parsons and myself set for- 
ward and arrived at Norwalk about dusk. 

Colonel DeLancey, even at this time, seems to have been in 
bad odor with the people of Westchestei', for the Committee 
of Safety of that County, in the following curious petition, 
proceeded immediately upon his arrest to denounce him as a 
Tory and demand his close confinement: — 

To His Excellency, George Clinton, Governor of the State of New 
York, General of the Militia and Admiral of the Navy of the 
same: 

May it please Your Excellency, the Committee of Safety for 
Westchester County, Humbly showeth: — that, whereas James De- 
Lancey of this County, soon after the enemy got possession of New 
York, gave his parole to one of our general officers that he would 
abide by the country in the present war with Great Britain and con- 
tinue at his own house, but within a week after, he, with both his 
brothers, went on board of the men-of-war in the East River 
and went to New York, and 'Soon after came back with the 
enemy to West Chester, and has been there ever since, acting with 
the greatest venom imaginable against the good people of this 
County, as a Colonel commanding the militia in that end of the 
County, and as a captain in raising a company of Light Horse, 
encouraging a number of horse thieves to steal horses for said com- 
pany in the northern parts of said County; and several times he has 



126 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

been known to be in person with said thieves and plunderers up in 
the County; all of which unspeakable miseries and distresses this 
County has suffered for ten months last past by such robbers^ has 
been owing to his conduct. But a few days past, he was taken at 
West Chester by a party of Continental troops and carried to Gen- 
eral Putnam, and by him sent on his parole to remain at Hartford. 

We, the above said Committee, in behalf of the distressed people 
of Westchester County, humbly beg your Excellency would interpose 
with General Putnam, that said parole may be taken away, and he 
be put into close confinement, so that the law may have its proper 
course against such a traitor to this State in particular and the 
whole United States in general, as he has proven himself to be. 

And in the meantime your Petitioners will ever pray that God, 
by his almighty power, preserve and direct your Excellency in your 
public administration in this so difficult a time. 

Signed bj^ order of the Committee 
Westchester Co. Dec. 6, 1777 ^^'^- Leggett, Chairman. 

In a letter to General Putnam, dated Poughkeepsie, Decem- 
ber 12, 1777, complaining of the bad treatment which 
our soldiers, prisoners of war, received at the hands of the 
British, Governor Clinton, referring to this petition, wrote: — 
" I am informed that a party of yours were fortunate enough 
to capture Colonel James DeLancey. This gentleman, I am 
informed, has broken his parole once already. I am persuaded 
you wont put it in his power to do it a second time." It does 
not appear, however, that DeLancey was ever placed in close 
confinement, for Parsons, in a letter to Governor Clinton, 
dated, Robinsons, February 21, 1778, mentions that he " has 
returned agreeable to his parole." In this case the vision of his 
enemies was keener than that of his friends. Could even the 
easy-going Putnam have foreseen the ruin and distress which 
this merciless raider brought upon Westchester County and 
western Connecticut and the efforts necessary to break up and 
capture his cow-boy band, DeLancey would not have escaped 
as easily as he did. 

The following is from General Putnam to General Parsons : — 

Headquarters, Sawpits, December 20, 1777. 
Dear General. — I wrote you the other day and informed you 
that I had orders from General Washington to feturn all the troops 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 127 

to Fishkill and fortify the River at all events. As he is of this 
opinion, the object of obstructing the River far supercedes all other 
events. 

These orders from the General I should imagine would put an 
end to your plan of keeping a body of men on the Island this winter, 
and makes it absolutely necessary for us to cross to the main imme- 
diately. However, as you must be better acquainted with that coun- 
try than I am, I have no objections, if you think proper, to leaving 
fifty or one hundred men there under a good officer. I would have 
all Continental troops with you. Join me as soon as possible. I 
leave the raising of a number of refugees entirely to you, but I 
think the troops will all go from here as it will be too hazardous to 
trust them. I am &c., 

Israel Putnam. 

P. S. — Dr. Burnett informs me that Governor Livingston has just 
received a letter from Congress assuring him that they had not the 
least doubt that the French had declared against Great Britain 
and that five thousand troops were ordered to Martinico. 

On the 26th, Parsons wrote from Hartford to Governor Clin- 
ton of New York, suggesting a way in which he might effect the 
exchange of his neighbor, Colonel Allison : — 

Hartford, December 26, 1777. 
Dear Sir. — Finding Mr. Thompson here anxiously concerned to 
procure the exchange of your neighbor, Col. Allison, for one Col. 
Barton, I thought it might not be amiss to suggest to you that, 
although the cartel is yet suspended and therefore no negotiations 
can be by the General on this subject, yet the Governors of particu- 
lar States have in several instances undertaken to exchange in their 
own names; perhaps this may be effected in that way. I hope to 
see you in camp. I am &c., 

Sam. H. Parsons. 
To Governor Clinton. 

While Parsons' brigade was stationed at White Plains, 
General Tryon, whose military specialty seems to have been to 
burn and destroy, sent out, on the 18th of November, a small 
force of Hessian troops under Captain Emmerick — the same 
officer sent to destroy Continental village — to burn the houses 
in Phillips' Manor, near the Hudson. This affair was marked 
by circumstances of such savage barbarity, that Parsons' 



128 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

indignation was fired to white heat. The correspondence 
between him and Tryon to which this outrage gave rise, is 
given in full as showing the energetic character and bold, fer- 
vid, earnest patriotism which distinguished General Parsons. 
The occasion for the correspondence appears more fully in the 
following letter from Parsons to Mr. Laurens, then President 
of Congress : — 

To the Hon. Mr. Laurens, President of Congress: 

Sir. — On the 18th ult. (November), Gen. Tryon sent about one 
hundred men under the command of Capt. Emmerick to burn some 
houses within about four miles of my guards, which, under cover 
of a dark night, he effected with circumstances of most savage bar- 
barity, stripping the clothing from women and children and turning 
them almost naked into the street in a most severe night; the men 
were made prisoners and led with halters about their necks, with no 
other clothes than their shirts and breeches in triumph to the ene- 
my's lines. This conduct induced me to write to Gen. Tryon upon 
the subject; a copy of my letter and his answer I have herewith 
sent you. As the practice of desolating villages, burning houses 
and every species of imnecessary distress to the inhabitants ought to 
be avoided, I would not wish to retaliate in any instance but where 
in its consequences the enemy may be injured or one of our people 
saved by it. I am aware if in any instance this shall be done, I 
shall subject myself to censure unless it is in consequence of some 
general order of Congress by which I may be warranted. As these 
instances may be frequently repeated by the enemy, I wish to know 
in what, or whether in any instance, Congress will direct a retalia- 
tion. I am. Sir, your obedient humble servant, 

Samuel H. Parsons. 

Parsons' letter to Tryon and Tryon's reply, mentioned in 
the letter to Mr. Laurens, are as follows : — 

Mamaroneck, Nov. 21st, 1777. 
Sm. — Adding to the natural horrors of war, the most wanton 
destruction of private property, are acts of cruelty unknown to 
civilized nations, and unaccustomed in war until the servants of the 
King of Great Britain have convinced the impartial world, no acts 
of inhumanity, no stretch of despotism are too great for them to 
exercise towards those they are pleased to term rebels. Had any 
apparent advantage been derived from burning the houses on Phil- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 129 

lips Manor last Monday night, there would have been some appear- 
ance of reason to j ustif y the measure, but when no benefit can result 
from destroying those buildings and stripping the women and chil- 
dren of necessary apparel to cover them from the severity of a cold 
night, and leading off the captivated heads of tliose families in 
triumph to your lines in a most ignominious manner, I cannot assign 
a justifiable cause for this act of cruelty; nor can I conceive a reason 
for your further order to destroy Tarrytown. 

'Tis not my inclination, Sir, to war in this manner against the 
inhabitants within your lines who suppose themselves within the 
protection of the King. But necessity will oblige me to retaliate 
in kind upon your friends, to compel the exercise of that justice 
which liumanity used to dictate, unless your explicit disavowal of 
the conduct of your Captains Emmerick and Barns shall convince 
me those houses were destroyed without your knowledge and against 
your order. You cannot be insensible 'tis every day in my power 
to destroy the buildings belonging to Col. Phillips and Mr. Delan- 
cey; each as near your lines as these burned by your troops were to 
the guards of the army of the United States, nor can your utmost 
vigilance prevent the destruction of every building on this side 
Kingsbridge. 'Tis not fear. Sir, 'tis not want of opportunity has 
preserved those buildings to this time, but a sense of the injustice 
and savageness of such a line of conduct, has hitherto saved them; 
and nothing but necessity will induce me to copy the example of 
this kind so frequently set us by your troops. 

I am. Sir, your obedient humble servant 

Sam. H. Parsons. 
General Parsons to General Tryon. 

Kingsbridge Camp, 23d November, 1777. 
Sir. — Could I possibly conceive myself accountable to any re- 
volted subject of the King of Great Britain, I might answer your 
letter received by the flag of truce yesterday, respecting the conduct 
of the party under Capt. Emmerick's command upon the taking of 
Peter and Cornelius Van Tassel. I have, however, candor enough 
to assure you, as much as I abhor every principle of inhumanity or 
ungenerous conduct, I should, were I more in authority, burn every 
committee-man's house within my reach, as I deem those agents the 
wretched instruments of the continued calamities of this country, 
and in order the sooner to purge this colony of them, I am willing 
to give twenty silver dollars for every acting committee-man who 
shall be delivered to the King's troops. I guess before the end of 
the next campaign, they will be torn in pieces by their own country- 



130 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

men whom they have forcibly dragged, in opposition to their prin- 
ciples and duty, (after fining them to the extent of their property), 
to take up arms against their lawful sovereign, and compelled them 
to exchange their happy constitution for paper, rags, anarchy and 
distress. The ruins of the city of New York from the conflagra- 
tion of the emissaries of your party last year, remain a memorial of 
their tender regard for their fellow beings exposed to the severity 
of a cold night. 

This is the first correspondence I have held with the King's ene- 
mies in America on my own part, and as I am immediately under 
the command of Sir Henry Clinton, your future letters, dictated 
with decency, would be more properly directed to his Excellency. 

I am, Sir, your humble servant 
To General Parsons. Wm. Tryon. 

The letters of November 21 and 23, Tryon sent to Lord 
George Germain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and 
loftily wrote : — " By the enclosed correspondence between me 
and General Parsons, your Lordship may judge of the tone I 
think should be held towards the rebels." The entire corres- 
pondence is to be found in Volume VIII. of the New York 
Colonial Documents, pp. 735 to 745, London Documents 46 
and 47. 

The following letter was written by General Parsons ta 
General Tryon in reply to his of Nov. 23. 

FiSHKiLL^ January 1st, 1778. 

Sir. — Since I received yours of the 23rd of November, I have 
been employed in matters of importance which have not left me at 
liberty to acknowledge the receipt of your letter before; lest you 
should think me wanting in the respect due to your character, I beg 
your acceptance of this letter, which closes our epistolary corres- 
pondence. 

It will ever be my intention to dictate with decency any letters 
I may send, however remote it may be from my wish to copy the 
examples of the persons my duty may compel me to correspond 
with; as propriety and decency ought to be observed in every trans- 
action even with the most infamous characters, I shall never hope 
so nearly to assimilate myself to them as to be found wanting in 
that respect which is due to all my fellow beings in their stations 
and characters in life. 

I should not have entertained a thought vou had failed in the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 131 

duty you owe to your King in every part of the globe, or that you 
did not fully possess the spirit of his Ministry, which has precipi- 
tated the present crisis, even though you had omitted to assure me 
this had been the first correspondence you had held with the King's 
enemies in America. 

The conflagration of New York you are pleased to charge to the 
American troops under the decent name of a party. This deserves 
no other answer than to assure you it has not the least foundation 
in truth, and that we are assured it gains no credit with officers 
whose rank and candor give opportunity to know and believe the 
truth. This like many other circumstances is charged to the account 
of those who were never believed guilty, to excite the rage and 
resentment of the ignorant and misguided against very improper 
objects. Perhaps I might suggest with as much propriety and more 
truth, this unhappy event was brought about by your own party 
from the same motives which induced them in August 1776 to man- 
gle the dead bodies of some of the foreign troops in a most shocking 
and inhuman manner, and place them in the most conspicuous parts 
of the roads their brethren were to pass. 

A justifiable resistance against unwarrantable invasions of the 
natural and social rights of mankind, if unsuccessful, I am sensible 
according to the fashion of the world, will be called rebellion; but 
when successful, will be viewed as a noble struggle for everything 
important in life. Whether I am now considered as a revolted sub- 
ject of the King of Great Britain, or in any other light by his 
subj ects, is very immaterial and gives me very little concern ; future 
ages, I hope will do justice to my intentions and the present to the 
humanity of my conduct. 

Few men are of talents so very inconsiderable as to be unaltera- 
bly excluded from every degree of fame. A Nero and a Caligula 
have perpetuated their memory; perhaps twenty silver dollars may 
be motives with those you employ to do great honor to your Machia- 
velian maxims, especially to that which advises, never to commit 
crimes to the halves, and leave lasting monuments of your princi- 
ples and conduct which will hand your memory down to posterity 
in indelible characters. We act on a different scale and hold our- 
selves indispensably bound, never to commit crimes, but execute 
what's necessary for our safety uninfluenced by sordid mercenary 
motives. 

In the field of conjecture I shall not attempt to follow you; your 
talent of guessing may be greater than I can boast of; this satis- 
faction at least you may enjoy, if you find yourself mistaken in one 
conjecture, you have an undoubted right to guess again. I shall 



132 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

content myself to wait 'til the event verifies your prediction or shows 
you are mistaken. Assuring you, I shall never pursue your measures 
for restoring peace, whether my authority should be greater or less, 
further than necessity shall compel me to retort the injuries the 
peaceable inhabitants of this country may receive from the hand of 
violence and oppression. 

I am, Sir, your obedient servant. 
To General Tryon. Sam. H. Parsons." 

Tryon's brutality, as was to be expected, provoked speedy 
retaliation, not by the military authorities but by the injured 
inhabitants or their friends. November had not expired before 
a small party of the " advanced water-guard," slipping by the 
British guard-ships in the night, landed at Bloomingdale, sur- 
prised and captured the small guard at the landing and de- 
stroyed the country seat of Oliver DeLancey with everything it 
contained. Like the poor people of Phillips' Manor, Mrs. 
DeLancey and her daughters were forced to flee to the woods, 
barefooted and in their nightclothes, and shelterless, to 
wander about in the open air all night. This outrage, though 
but a return blow struck by the exasperated victims of 
Tryon's cruelties, and far less culpable than the cold-blooded 
barbarities of Tryon's troops, was promptly disavowed and 
disapproved by the Committee of Safety. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Parsons' Expedition to Long Island. In Command at West 
Point. Correspondence with Governor Clinton. Letter 
TO Sir Henry Clinton. 

October, 1777— April, 1778 

On the 31st of October Putnam advised Washington that 
Poor's, Warner's, Learned's and Patterson's brigades, with 
^an Schaick's regiment and Morgan's rifle corps, fifty-seven 
hundred men in all, were on their way from Gates' army to 
join him in the Highlands, making his total force nine thou- 
sand strong, exclusive of Morgan's corps, the artillery and the 
New York and Connecticut militia. The same day at a 
Council of his principal officers, it was unanimously determined 
that four thousand men should move down the west side of the 
river to Haverstraw; that one thousand should be retained in 
the Highlands to guard the country and repair the Works, and 
that the remainder should march down the east side of the 
river to Kingsbridge, except Morgan's corps, which should 
join the Commander-in-Chief. The object of this disposition 
was to further Putnam's plan for diverting reinforcements 
from Howe's army and attacking New York, should the oppor- 
tunity present itself. The troops under orders to join General 
Washington having left Fishkill on their march southward, 
General Putnam moved down the east side of the Hudson with 
that part of his force detached to operate against New York. 
On the 27th of November, General Dickinson made his long 
contemplated descent on Staten Island. Crossing from New 
Jersey with fourteen hundred men, he marched seven miles into 
the Island, hoping to surprise the enemy encamped there under 
Generals Skinner and Campbell ; but, as ill luck would have 
it, intelligence of the movement had reached them at three 
o'clock in the morning, in time to permit them to draw off their 
troops, and he was forced to return without accomplishing his 

133 



134 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

object. The same day General Putnam ordered General Par- 
sons, then at White Plains, and General Warner, fresh from 
the plains of Saratoga, to march with their brigades towards 
Kingsbridge to aid in creating a diversion in that quarter. 
Putnam, in person, reconnoitered within three miles of Kings- 
bridge, but finding no opportunity to effect anything, diverged 
to New Rochelle, and there disposed his troops as if to cross the 
Sound and attack the forts at Huntington and Setauket. But 
before he could complete his preparations, it was found that 
the enemy had discovered his intentions and evacuated their 
Works. 

General Putnam remained near the Sound until the middle 
of December, when, under orders from Washington, he 
returned with his troops to the Highlands. Meanwhile an 
expedition, to be under the separate command of General Par- 
sons, was planned against Long Island. Two colonels of his 
brigade were to accompany him, Samuel B, Webb, who had 
just joined him with his regiment at Horseneck, and Colonel 
Meigs, who had been so successful in May at the eastern end 
of the Island. The expedition was to cross the Sound in three 
Divisions. The western, under Meigs, was to cross from Saw 
Pits (Port Chester) to Hempstead Harbor, about twelve miles 
distant, and attack a regiment stationed eight miles east of 
Jamaica ; the middle, under Webb, was to land at Huntington 
and support either Division as might be required ; the eastern, 
under the immediate command of Parsons, was to land further 
east on the Island and destroy vessels and stores collected 
there. Each Division was to have sailed on the evening of the 
9th, but the Sound proved so rough that the whaleboats, in 
which Meigs' men were embarked, were unable to cross. Par- 
sons and Webb left Norwalk at the appointed time, and, having 
sailing vessels, had no difficulty in crossing, but Webb, the next 
morning, unfortunately fell in with a British sloop of war and 
was captured, with four officers and twenty men of his 
regiment of regulars, besides forty militiamen. Parsons landed 
safely at Hockaback, about forty miles from the east end of 
the Island, and was completely successful in his part of the 
undertaking. Among his prisoners were several respecting 
whom he wrote to Governor Clinton, as follows: 



« 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 135 

Lyme in Connecticut, Dec. 28, 1777. 

Dear Sir.^ — Several persons have been brought from Long Island 
who have been exceedingly active in distressing the well affected 
there. Among them are Major Wickham, Major Hudson, Orange 
Webb and Matthew Wells of Southold township, John Ireland of 
Huntington and sundry others. None of them act under military 
commissions except Hudson; the others must be considered as State 
prisoners and fall within your jurisdiction, being subjects of your 
State. They are now with the Commissary of Prisoners at Hart- 
ford. If you think it necessary to give any particular orders re- 
specting them, the Commissary will doubtless comply with any direc- 
tions you give. 

The well-affected inhabitants of Suffolk County are anxious to 
have Wickham, Hudson and Ireland kejit upon the main; they much 
fear their return; they are now all upon their parole. 

I am &c., 
To Governor Clinton. Sam. H. Parsons. 

The following letter from General Parsons to General Wash- 
ington, written from Lyme, where he then was on a visit to his 
family, gives the details of his expedition to Long Island : — 

Lyme, Dec. 29, 1777. 

Dear General. — Col. Webb falling into the enemy's hands the 
10th inst. you doubtless before this have been made acquainted 
with. 

The descent on Long Island was designed to destroy the timber 
and boards prepared at the eastern end of Long Island for barracks 
in New York, to destroy the fleet there from Rhode Island for wood, 
to attack a regiment stationed about eight miles eastward of Jamaica 
and to remove or destroy whatever public stores should be found on 
the Island. For this purpose Col. Meigs was to have landed at 
Hempstead Harbor to attack the regiment near Jamaica ; Col. Webb, 
near Huntington, to sustain Meigs and afford such aid to the Divi- 
sion eastward as should be wanted and destroy whatever was collected 
in that part of the County of Suffolk for the use of the enemy. The 
eastward Division, with which I was, landed at a place called Hock- 
aback, about forty miles from the east end of. the Island, with 
design to destroy the fleet, timber, boards &c. Col. ]\Ieigs, who was 
to have crossed from Sawpits, through the roughness of the water, 
was unable to pass over in his boats. The other two divisions sailed 
from Norwalk the evening of the 9th inst. with fair prospects, but 
unfortunately the armed sloop in which Col. Webb was, on the morn- 



136 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ing of the 10th fell in with the "Falcon" sloop of war in her 
passage from New York to Newport, and was forced on shore at so 
great a distance from the beach as rendered their escape so hazard- 
ous that most of them fell into the hands of the enemy. 

Upon the enquiry I have been able to make, I believe that they 
were more unfortunate than guilty of any criminal neglect, and the 
falling in with that ship was perfectly accidental as none were sta- 
tioned within many miles of that place. The eastern Division 
landed safely. The fleet (except the Swan and Harlem sloops of 
war and four other vessels) had sailed. One sloop had taken in 
her cargo of timber and boards ; the other three had taken none, but 
being light went into the bay under cover of the armed vessels. The 
loaded sloop we took, and we destroyed all the timber and boards 
prepared for New York and a large quantity of wood cut for another 
fleet expected from Newport. Capt. Hart, with about forty men, 
was so fortunate as to find Capt. Ascough's boats within about 
twenty yards of the shore, and on their refusal to surrender gave 
them several well directed shots which did great execution, Capt, 
Ascough of the Swan, having his thigh broken; two other oflicers 
badly wounded; eight killed and about the same number wounded 
whose rank was unknown. This we have from one of the inhabi- 
tants on board the Swan. When the boats came alongside, the ships 
kept up a constant fire, but without execution. Immediately on this 
the ships weighed anchor and sailed for Newport. 

The troops, except those taken with Col. Webb, are safely landed 
on the main again with about twenty prisoners taken here. 

Col. Webb is now out on his parole to endeavor to eff'ect an 
exchange for Lt. Col. Campbell of the 71st Regiment, and is to 
return in two months unless this is eff"ected or he is otherwise ex- 
changed. If there is no special reason to prevent the exchange of 
Col. Campbell, I would beg your Excellency's permission to send 
in Col. Campbell, but if any objection arises against his exchange. 
Col. Lawrence taken at Staten Island or any other of like rank will 
I suppose answer his parole if sent in season. If either of these 
ways or any other can procure Col. Webb's exchange, he will be 
made happy and the regiment greatly benefitted, as the affairs of 
the regiment are so circumstanced that no man can do justice to 
them if he is confined. He has always conducted himself as a good 
officer and as such merits the esteem of his superior officers. 

I should at this time have requested your Excellency's permission 
to have left the service of my country in the army, were I not appre- 
hensive the example would have too extensive an influence amongst 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 137 

the officers of my brigade, already so discontented as to have pro- 
duced very many applications for dismissals. I have endeavored 
with some success to give satisfaction with assurances Congress 
would pay attention to their case as would do justice. The general 
sentiments and practice of the country are such as to give too much 
cause for their complaint. 

When the officers are calmed and have laid aside their present 
intentions, I hope I shall not be considered in a disagreeable light 
if my application for a dismissal should be nearer the opening of a 
new campaign than the close of this. 

I am now by General Putnam's permission in the country for a 
few weeks with my family. As our Assembly sits next week at 
Hartford and not again till May I could wish measures to be adopted 
this session for filling the quota of troops from this State, and as I 
know your Excellency's opinion is of great weight, I am satisfied 
an early attention will be paid to the subject if recommended by 
your Excellency. 

I intend to spend some days at Hartford, where, if I can con- 
tribute anything to furnishing an army at the opening of another 
campaign, I shall think myself happy in rendering some service to 
the cause of my country though I should quit the field myself. 
I am, dear General, with esteem 

Yr. obt. servant 
To General Washington. S. H. Parsons. 

That Parsons was not inactive while in Hartford, appears 
from this entry in the records of the Connecticut Council of 
Safety : — 

At a meeting of the Governor and Council of Safety, January 
16, 177s, upon the representation of General Samuel H. Parsons, 
showing to this Board that a small privateer is now fitting out by 
the Governor's order to drive small tenders and boats from the west- 
ern coast, which cannot be completed without the loan of one of the 
nine pounders at New Haven belonging to the State, and praying 
for the loan thereof for the purpose aforesaid, it was. Resolved, 
That the same be loaned to General Parsons and that he give his 
receipt for the same. 

The following letter from General Parsons to Colonel Webb, 
was probably written by him while on his way from Connec- 
ticut to the Highlands : — 



138 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

YoNKERS, February 8, 1778. 

Dear Colonel. — I received your kind letter of the 3d inst., this 
evening on my return from our mutual friend, Governor Clinton, 
and have the pleasure to assure you his opinion is not shaken by any 
reports he has heard. If you should be exchanged, I beg you to 
direct Major Huntington to come on to camp as soon as possible; 
he is much wanted. If 'tis possible to procure me a pencil and ivory 
note book, buttons for a coat, lining &c., I shall be particularly 
obliged for your care for me in this matter. A declaration of war 
between France and England; Pitt in administration; a general ex- 
change of prisoners very speedily and a prohibition against calling 
us rebels, gains credit here. 

When the drafts are made, I think 'twill be well to have some good 
recruiting officers at home, as, if there is the greatest prospect of 
closing the war, our prospects of recruiting will be increased. All 
others of your officers, (unless some special difficulties exist,) and 
all soldiers whose furloughs are out, I desire may be directed to 
join immediately, as the Works (at West Point) are of great im- 
portance to be finished and our laborers are few. 

The three followmg letters are from Parsons to his old 
friend and compatriot, Thomas Mumford of Groton, a member 
of the Connecticut legislature, and one of those who aided him 
in raising money for the capture of Ticonderoga in 1775 : — 

Lyme, December 28, 1777. 

Dear Sir. — I came home last night and found your letter of the 
24th. I am very sorry your prospects of redeeming your son are 
no better. I wish for one you were closer connected with the mem- 
bers of the Family Union; everything in my power shall be done to 
procure his exchange or enlargement. I have not yet received a 
letter from Maj. Humphreys. When I do, I will inform you imme- 
diately. I hope through the intervention of Mr. Webb to procure 
my young friend without the aid of the Governor or his Council. 
Enclosed is a letter to Mr. Wickham. As I expect to see you next 
Tuesday, I have not been more particular. I will then give a letter 
to ]Mr. Wickham and a flag if you desire it. 

I have sold the little interest I have in this town. If you can 
inform me where I can hire a house and about forty or fifty acres 
of land for a year till our troubles end, you will much oblige 

Yr friend and obt. servt. 
To Thomas Mumford. Sam. H. Parsons. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 139 

Lyme, January Jf, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — I last night received a letter from General Putnam 
in which is this paragraph. " A letter from Lewis Pintard Esq., 
agent for our prisoners in New York, has put it entirely out of my 
power to do anything in favor of Mr. Mumford. He says that the 
General has absolutely declared that no officers shall be exchanged 
until a general one takes place. 

He gives some camp news. Says the Randolph has taken an 
Indiaman. The talk of a French war is very rife, and the same 
thing is whispered in New York. Christmas eve Captain Savage took 
eight prisoners within musket shot of Fort Independence. Same 
evening, two officers shot at and one killed near White Plains. Two 
captains of vessels sent with a flag have remained with the enemy. 

S. H. Parsons. 
To Thomas Mtimford. 

January 22, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — I intended before I left you, to have mentioned tlie 
case of General Arnold, who is languishing under the neglect of 
his country, when he has done more perhaps than any one man to 
restore their sinking liberties. A man of bravery feels more sensi- 
bly the appropriation of his countrymen than thousands of gold 
or silver; this is a cheap tribute and justly his due. I wish he may 
receive some public testimonial of the approbation of his native 
country; and that we may not always remain singular in this 
neglect. 

I find a great complaint among the officers that thev are four- 
folded for their Polls when in service. Whether the law exempts 
tlie officer from a poll tax or not, I do not know, but if not, I think 
it exceedingly hard they should be compelled to pay; and more so 
to be fourfolded when they are absent and cannot have opportunity 
to know your laws or to procure your fourfold abated. I wish you 
to move a law by which they shall be excused from your poll tax the 
year past and in future, and that all fourfolds be abated them. 
There is more reason for the Assembly to interpose in this than in 
ordinary cases, as the officer is not in a situation to apply to your 
listers himself before the tax is gathered. 

I am &c. 
To Thomas Mumford. Sam. H. Parsons. 

On the 5th of November, Congress had extended Gates' com- 
mand to embrace the Highlands, and invested him with ample 
powers to repair and rebuild the Works ; but, although urged 
by Washington in his letter of December 2, to attend to the 



140 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

business without delay, he had done nothing when he left the 
Department in January to take the Presidency of the Board 
of War. Anticipating his non-action, Washington, the same 
day, wrote to Governor Clinton urging him to take the " chief 
direction and superintendence of the business." This, on the 
20th, Clinton declined to do, explaining that, as the legislature 
was to meet in March, his time would be fully occupied by his 
civil duties. On the same day Washington wrote also to 
General Putnam, as follows, requesting him in the most urgent 
terms to employ his whole force in constructing and complet- 
ing the works necessary for the defense of the Hudson, and 
to consult Governor Clinton, General Parsons and Colonel 
Radiere upon the matter: — 

Headquarters, December 2, 1777. 
Dear Sir. — The importance of the North River in the present 
contest, and the necessity of defending it, are subjects which have 
been so frequently and so fully discussed, and are so well under- 
stood, that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon them. These facts at 
once appear when it is considered that it runs through a whole State ; 
that it is the only passage by which the enemy from New York, or 
any part of our coast, can ever hope to cooperate with an army from 
Canada; that the possession of it is indispensably essential to pre- 
serve the communication between the eastern, middle and southern 
states ; and, further, that upon its security in a great measure depend 
our chief supplies of flour for the subsistence of such forces as we 
may have occasion for in the course of the war, either in the eastern 
or northern departments, or in the country lying high uj) on the 
west side of it. These facts are familiar to all; they are familiar 
to you. I therefore request you, in the most urgent terms, to turn 
your most serious and active attention to this infinitely important 
object. Seize the present opportunity, and employ your whole force 
and all the means in your power for erecting and completing, as far 
as it shall be possible, such works and obstructions as may be neces- 
sary to defend and secure the river against any future attempts of 
the enemy. You will consult Governor Clinton, General Parsons 
and the French engineer, Colonel Radiere, upon the occasion. By 
gaining the passage, you know the enemy have already laid waste 
and destroyed all the houses, mills and towns accessible to them. 
Unless proper measures are taken to prevent, they will renew their 
ravages in the spring, or as soon as the season will admit, and per- 
haps Albany, the only town in the State of any importance remain- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 141 

ing in our hands, may undergo a like fate, and a general havoc and 
devastation take place. 

To prevent these evils, therefore, I shall expect that you will 
exert every nerve, and employ your whole force in future, while 
and whenever it is practicable, in constructing and forwarding the 
proper works and means of defense. The troops must not be kept 
out on command, and acting in detachments to cover the country 
below, which is a consideration infinitely less important and inter- 
esting. ^ - r^. o 

1 am, dear air, &c. 
To General Putnam. . Geo. Washington. 

On the 25th of January, 1778, Washington, uneasy at the 
delay, again wrote Putnam : — 

I begin to be very apprehensive that the season will entirely 
pass away before anything material will be done for the defense of 
the Hudson River. You are well acquainted with the great neces- 
sity there is for having the Works there finished as soon as possible ; 
and I most earnestly desire that the strictest attention may be paid 
to every matter which may contribute to finishing and putting them 
in a respectable state before spring. 

The Forts and other Works in the Highlands having been 
completely destroyed by the British, it became a question of 
importance whether they should be restored, or others erected 
in new places to be selected for the purpose. After careful 
examination, it was finally decided by Putnam and his officers, 
and by a committee of the legislature appointed to assist 
in the matter, to build at West Point a fort with an interior 
circuit of six hundred yards, and to obstruct the river by 
sinking chevaux-de-frise and by stretching a boom across it 
from shore to shore. The place selected for the boom was the 
narrowest part of the river, where it would be commanded by 
the Fort, and where a point jutting out into the stream com- 
pelled all vessels in rounding it to change their course and 
lessen their headway, thus keeping them longer under fire and 
preventing them from striking the boom with any considerable 
force. The boom was to consist of two chains resting on the 
ends of pine logs fifteen feet in length, laid with the current, 
and when completed would resemble a ladder. The links of the 



142 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

chain were to be two feet in length and made of two and one- 
quarter inch square iron. The contract for the chain was 
given to Noble, Townsend and Co., proprietors of the Sterling 
Iron Works, which is still in operation near Sloatsburgh in 
Rockland County. 

On the 13th of February, Putnam reported to General 
Washington as to the progress of the work at West Point : — 

The state of affairs now at this Post^ you will please to observe 
is as follows: the chain and necessary anchors are contracted for, 
to be completed by the first of April; and from the intelligence I 
have received, there is reason to believe they will be finished by that 
time. Parts of the boom intended to have been used at Fort Mont- 
gomery, sufficient for this place, are remaining. Some of the iron is 
exceedingly bad; this I hope to have replaced with good iron soon. 
The chevaux-de-frise will be completed by the time the River will 
admit of sinking them. The batteries near the water and the fort 
to cover them, are laid out. Barracks and huts for about three hun- 
dred men are completed, and barracks for about the same number 
are covered. A road to the River has been made with great diffi- 
culty. 

, As to the condition of the troops he says : — 

Dubois' regiment is unfit to be ordered on duty, there not being 
one blanket in the regiment. Very few have either a shoe or a 
shirt, and most of them have neither stockings, breeches or overalls. 
Several hundred men are rendered useless for want of necessary 
apparel. 

General Parsons has returned to camp some time since, and takes 
upon himself the command to-morrow, when I shall set out for Con- 
necticut." I am &c., 

m j^ T -rrr 1 • IsRAEL PuTNAM. 

1 o (jreneral nashingion. 

On the 14th of February, 1778, General Putnam having left 
for Connecticut, the command of West Point and all the Posts 
and troops in the Highlands, together with the duty of com- 
pleting the Works planned for the defense of the Hudson, 
devolved on General Parsons. This latter duty proved full of 
perplexities and embarrassments growing out of the confusion 
in which Putnam had left the affairs of the Department, as 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 143 

will be seen by the following correspondence between Parsons 
and Governor Clinton. Parsons' Headquarters were at Robin- 
son's House, opposite West Point, from which on the 15th, he 
writes : — 

Dear Sir. — Colonel Wyncoop is now with me and has taken a 
memorandum of articles to procure at Albany and that part of the 
country. The gun boats^ he says, he thinks are not begun which were 
to be built at Albany; he says General Schuyler will be particularly 
useful to him in procuring what he is to furnish, and will be able to 
give such directions about the gun-boats as will expedite the com- 
pletion of them. I would beg you, Sir, to write to General Schuy- 
ler on the subject and desire his assistance therein, as no man can 
do more service than the General, if he can be induced to undertake 
the direction of the matter. As I am lately come to this Post and 
not furnished with any account of what is prepared or where the 
various works are carrying on; what workmen are employed; what 
materials are now ready or tools to work with; in short, I came to 
this command in most disagreeable circumstances, nothing done, 
everything expected and wished for, and everything in confusion. I 
have everything to pick from perfect chaos. I must, therefore, beg 
you to give me what assistance you can, and that you would write 
Colonel Wyncoop from time to time at Albany and give such direc- 
tions as you think necessary. 

rr, ^ „,. I am with esteem &c., 

io Governor Clinton. o rt -n, 

Sam. H. Parsons. 

To which Governor Clinton replies : — 

PouGHKEEPsiE, February 16, 1778. 
Dear Sir. — I will write to General Schuyler agreeably to your 
request and give you every other assistance in my power in for- 
warding the works under your direction. I know the confused state 
you must have found things in, and most sincerely wish they had 
been hitherto so conducted as to have made your task more easy to 
yourself and advantageous to the public. 

To General Parsons. ^ ' ^ 

Geo. Clinton. 

The same day General Parsons wrote to Governor Clinton 
respecting the difficulty of obtaining teams to use upon the 
Works, and asked his direction, as to the course to be pursued 
in securing them : — 



144 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Highlands, February 16, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — I applied to Major Strang for twenty teams and had 
assurances they should be sent this day; instead of teams, I this 
day received the enclosed letter. The inhabitants have made great 
complaints, and perhaps with some reason, against the exercise of 
military force in these cases; indeed, 'tis the road to obliterate 
the ideas of civil liberty and the rights of a citizen. I am sensible 
I came to this command under very disagreeable circumstances, the 
minds of the people not being disposed to make favorable interpre- 
tations of such exertions as their own misconduct may at some 
times make absolutely necessary; their tempers soured with the 
General who commands the Department (Putnam) and not so well 
inclined to my command as I could wish. These things ought to 
make me more cautious in invading the rights of the civil magistrate, 
than would be necessary where jealousies and ill dispositions did 
not subsist in the minds of those nearly adjacent to this Post. 

The importance of a speedy completion of the Works I need 
not urge to your Excellency, who, I know, feels the necessity as 
forcibly as any man. I must beg you, Sir, to give some direction 
in this and such like cases, and if the committee, appointed to sup- 
ply, want the authority mentioned in Major Strang's letter, that 
they might be empowered to impress where necessary, or, if it must 
be ordered by the commanding officer in the military department, 
that your legislature would give directions for that purpose; in 
which case he would act, not in a military character, but under the 
authority of your Act. The weather is such that nothing can be 
now done, and there's time to wait your answer before I take any 
steps in pursuance of his letter, which at present I have declined, 
and shall not do, unless directed thereto by your Excellency or the 
Legislative Body. Indeed, I am of opinion no good has or will 
result from too frequent use of this practice by military officers. 
Your answer will much oblige. 

Yr. Excellency's obt. humble servt., 

Sam. H. Parsons. 
To Governor Clinton. 

Here follows the letter from Major Strang and Governor 
Clinton's reply to General Parsons' letter: — 

Hanover, February 16, 1778. 
Sir. — Agreeable to your request, I have tried these two days to 
get the teams, but cannot prevail on any. The committee supposes 
that it does not come under their authority to give a warrant to 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 145 

impress teams, there being no clause in the resolution for that 
purpose. 

You, being the commanding officer to whom the charge is com- 
mitted, with the committee appointed to assist you, I do not know 
of any better method (and so speedy to obtain them) as for you 
to send down a guard with orders to impress teams for that purpose ; 
and, if you desire, I will direct them where to go. 

I am &c.. 
To General Parsons. Jos'e Strang. 

PouGHKEEPSiE, February 17, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — I am favored with yours of the l6th inst., enclosing 
a letter from Major Strang to you. I am sensible of the many 
difficulties you labor under in your new command. I am persuaded 
most of them arise from the causes you first ascribed them to and 
not from any dislike to your having the command. 

I am of the opinion that Mr. Strang and the other gentlemen of 
the committee, have competent authority to procure whatever shall 
be requested by the commanding officer and may be necessary for 
carrying on the Works for the defense of the River in the High- 
lands, and that whatever they shall do or order to be done therein 
will be considered as being done by the civil authority of the State. 

I am &c., 
10 General Parsons. ^ --, 

Geo. Clinton. 

The three following letters are from General Parsons to 
Governor Clinton respecting matters at West Point : — 

West Point, February 20, 1778. 

Sir. — The completion of the necessary defenses on Hudson's 
River is of very great importance to this and every of the United 
States. Xothing more embarrasses this matter at present than the 
want of money in the Quartermaster's Department. 

For some reason, I know not what, this Department has been 
so long neglected that our affairs are already almost ruined. In 
this exigency, I must entreat your Excellency's influence to procure 
a loan from your State until we can be supplied from Congress, or 
at least that the sums already advanced the Quartermaster may not 
be called for at present. Should he be obliged to replace them soon, 
our Works, I am certain will very soon be at a full stand. I ought 
to mention that none of the troops to be raised by this State are 
arrived at or near White Plains, except about thirty at Tarrytown; 



146 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

that the time of service of the militia ordered out by Connecticut 
expires next Friday, and Colonel Meigs will be ordered up next 
week. I am &c., 

To Governor Clinton. 

Robinsons', February 21, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — The dark scenes which have troubled me begin to 
disperse; things now look in a more promising train. I hope in all 
next week to have timber and fascines upon the ground which will 
make a good figure in our forts and batteries, if Mr. Wisner and 
Major Strang don't fail me. They have been here and seem de- 
termined to exert themselves to discharge their duty, and I do not 
intend the fault, if the Works are not completed, to fall on me. 
The credulity which has so distinguishedly characterized our country 
hitherto, appears to me to be very imprudent and almost unpar- 
donable. When the fortifications are to be begun, I think no family 
ought to be suffered to remain on the Point, nor any person ad- 
mitted there occasionally but those who are well recommended. Mr. 
Moore's family and Colonel La Radiere's clerk, who is a deserter 
from General Burgoyne, I think should be removed; 'twill otherwise 
become impossible to prevent the enemy from having regular re- 
turns of the state of our fortifications if these persons should be 
disposed to injure us. Your opinion and direction therein when 
you have leisure, will oblige, 

Your friend &c., 

Sam. H. Parsons. 

P. S. — Colonel DeLancey has returned agreeable to his parole. 
Colonel Webb is not exchanged and has gone back to the city. 

To Governor Clinton. 

Robinsons', February 2Jf., 1778. 

Dear Sir. — Enclosed are some letters received from New York. 
Birdsall may not be worth attending to. I know very little of him, 
but as he was entrusted with a flag by the commanding officer here, 
I think some attention ought to be paid to his case for the honor 
of the officer whose authority is slighted by the detention of the 
flag. I have, therefore, written to General Clinton on the subject, 
a copy of which is enclosed. If you think it necessary to add your 
weight, it may perhaps release an unhappy man from confinement. 

We have the Works going on now with some order and spirit. 
One thousand sticks of timber are cut and many got out of the 
mountains. I believe I shall this week have them mostly drawn to 
the place where the Fort is to be built, and about ten to fifteen 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 147 

thousand fascines, if the weather proves favorable to our designs. 
A few more teams we wish for, but are most distressed for forage; 
till to-day we have had none and now but a small quantity. I intend 
to-morrow to visit the Iron Works and find the situation of the 
chain, after which I will wait on your Excellency at Poughkeepsie. 

I am &c., 
To Governor Clinton. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Here follows the letter to Sir Henry Clinton, the British 
Commander in New York, referred to in the foregoing 
letter : — 

Highlands, February 23, 1778. 

Sir. — I have received an application from ]Mr. Benjamin Bird- 
sail of the State of New York, who went under the sanction of a 
flag to Long Island and has been confined as a prisoner in New 
York contrary to the laws of war and the established custom of 
nations. The reasons of his confinement, as assigned by Commis- 
sioner Loring, are, an order of Lord Howe, published sometime 
last summer, that no flags of truce should be permitted between 
Connecticut and Long Island, and the detention of one David Rice 
at Fairfield, who was pilot to a flag of truce from New York to 
New Haven. 

The first of these reasons seems to have been mentioned by way 
of jest and diversion, as, since the publication of this order, several 
flags have gone from Connecticut to Long Island and from Long 
Island to Connecticut without molestation, the design of the order 
having evidently ceased. 

I cannot tell. Sir, what construction is put upon this conduct in 
New York, but in the view of common sense, it is an open and 
abundantly sufficient revocation of Lord Howe's prohibition, espe- 
cially as the practice of sending flags from the prohibited places 
was first commenced by yourselves. 

Rice, the person detained and now requested as a ransom for 
Birdsall, escaped from gaol in Fairfield, where he was confined for 
the perpetration of an act, not only infamous, but felonious, in the 
view of every civilized nation. I need not suggest to you. Sir, the 
total impropriety of honoring such a villain with the protection of 
a flag, nor the entire rectitude of seizing him whenever or wherever 
he might be found. 

In addition to this, the flag on board of which Rice was, without 
any reason or even pretence, came into the harbor of Fairfield, 
when their destiny and limits were singly New Haven; for that 



148 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

transgression the vessel and men might have been justly seized. 
But we are not punctilious and would rather err, if it be an error, 
on the side of benevolence. But, Sir, were Rice's crimes, character 
and first imprisonment buried in oblivion, and the man by a magical 
spell restored to a reputation of honesty, nothing can be more im- 
proper or unjust than the detention of Mr. Birdsall by way of 
retaliation for the imprisonment of Mr. Rice. Rice was seized by 
the order and authority of the State of Connecticut. Birdsall re- 
ceived his flag from the commanding officer of this Post, depart- 
ments, as you very well know, Sir, totally distinct and unconnected; 
nor is it in the power, were it ever so agreeable to the inclination of 
the officer commanding here, to release Rice, as he is responsible 
solely to the laws and civil magistracy of the State. 

For these reasons, Sir, you will not wonder that I think it my 
indispensable duty to make a requisition of Mr. Birdsall. Were it 
possible, as I am not willing to believe it is, that such a villain as 
Rice, a felon taken in the piratical act of running away with a sloop 
and cargo, a man whom the interests of mankind and the universal 
opinion of refined nations condemns to the gallows, could, if known, 
be patronized by a person of the rank and character of Sir Henry 
Clinton, yet it is exceeding evident that the act of retaliation ought 
by no means be directed to Mr. Birdsall. 

I flatter myself, therefore, that upon the receipt of this, orders 
will be immediately given for his liberation and return. 

I am &c.. 
To Lieut. General Clinton. Sam. H. Parsons. 

General Parsons, writing from Crompond in Westchester 
County, advises Governor Clinton that, 

Five persons are apprehended on their road to New York, who 
will be sent to Poughkeepsie to-morrow. By one of them, from 
Stillwater, we are informed that one, Stephen Hooper, is on the 
road to New York and that he has two letters, one from Governor 
Carleton (of Canada), the other from Sir John Johnson, concealed 
in the heels of his shoes. He is about five feet six inches high, 
about thirty years of age, a large black beard, blue coat turned up 
■with the same, flat brass buttons and a small brimmed hat and 
leather breeches. One, James Conklin, is in company with him, 
is something taller, thin visage, light countenance, basket buttons 
on his coat. The informant says, he believes these persons are 
now near Poughkeepsie at John Valentine's, who is a relative of his. 
This information I thought necessary to give you that proper 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 149 

measures may be taken to apprehend them. There are at this place 
about one hundred barrels of provisions. 

I am &c., 
To Governor Clinton. Sam. H. Parsons. 

March 5, 1778, General Parsons writes from his Head- 
quarters at Robinson's, to Governor Clinton respecting a 
strike among the artificers at West Point: — 

My Dear Sir. — Enclosed I send you the report of a Court Mar- 
tial on the artificers at West Point. They have been a refractory 
set of men for a long time and seem to have agreed that they vrill 
not work till their own terms and particular inclinations are complied 
with from time to time. La Radiere, I am informed, intends asking 
leave to retire from the Post. As the carrying on the Works is 
not in my hands, I beg your advice what is best to be done on the 
enclosed report, and that the report may be returned with your 
opinion, although I suppose it an undoubted right of the command- 
ing officer to approve or disapprove the sentences of Courts Mar- 
tial, yet, as it may be supposed to concern your department, I would 
wish to consult you lest you may think yourself injured by the ap- 
probation thereof, which I shall do unless otherwise advised. 

Yours &c.. 
To Governor Clinton. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Materials for the Fort having been collected and all things 
being in readiness to commence breaking ground. General Par- 
sons writes to Governor Clinton requesting him to have five 
hundred to one thousand additional troops ordered to West 
Point where they can now be employed to advantage on the 
Works : — 

Robinsons, March 10, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — Your last is fully satisfactory. I shall avail myself 
of your license to procure a warrant for much of my conduct. 

We shall begin to break ground in two days, when we shall be 
able to employ five hundred men more than we now have to great 
advantage ; in ten days or a fortnight, we can employ five hundred 
more. I must beg your Excellency's attention to this subject and 
that you will be pleased to order these additional troops as soon as 
possible. 

General Schuyler writes me he thinks three or four hundred 
men may be spared from Albany. I wish your Excellency to re- 



150 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

quest the Marquis (Lafayette) to order them down and that Colonel 
Putnam's regiment may be of the number; he will be very useful, 
being much acquainted with the duty of an engineer; but I beg of 
you not to suffer the " Congress' Own " regiment of infernals to 
make part of the number. 

Sylvanus Hait, who lives near this house, has gone to the enemy 
and left his family. One Swim and sundry other Tories in this 
vicinity, ought also to be removed to make room for the troops, as 
well as for our own safety. I wish your Excellency to give the 
necessary orders for their removal. As they are all upon the 
Robinson estate, I suppose the Committee of Sequestration will re- 
move them if your Excellency directs. 

I am with esteem &c.. 
To Governor Clinton. Sam. H. Parsons. 

From this time the defenses of West Point progressed 
rapidly towards completion under the superintendence of 
General Parsons. By the end of April the Fort had been put 
in " some state of defense," the boom stretched across the River 
and the chevaux-de-frise with the other obstructions to naviga- 
tion placed in position. 



CHAPTER XIV 

At West Point. Difficulties Encountered in Constructing 
THE Works. Correspondence with Washington. Social Life. 
Dwight^s " Conquest of Canaan." 

January — March, 1778 

General Parsons in his letter to Washington of December 
29, reporting the details of his expedition to Long Island, 
expressed a wish to retire from the army when he could do so 
without injury to the service. Washington replied in the fol- 
lowing letter, urging him to consider the matter well lest his 
example should increase the discontent, already too prevalent 
among the officers. 

Headquarters, Valley Forge, January 16, 1778. 
Dear General. — I am sorry to find you have thoughts of leaving 
the army. I hope you will consider the matter well and the con- 
sequences which such a procedure may involve. Besides the loss 
of your own services, the example might have a disagreeable in- 
fluence on other officers. The discontent prevailing in the army 
from various causes has become but too prevalent, and I fear, unless 
some measures can be adopted to render the situation of the officers 
more comfortable than what it has been for some time past, that 
it will increase. The depreciation of our money, the difficulty of 
procuring necessaries, and the exhorbitant prices they are obliged 
to pay for them, when they can be had, are among the causes of 
dissatisfaction. Whatever your determination may be, I am per- 
suaded you will not remain an idle spectator, or be wanting in your 
exertions to promote the cause. 

I am &c.. 
To General Parsons. Geo. Washington. 

To this letter, four days after assuming command in the 
Highlands, General Parsons replied as follows : — 

151 



152 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

HiGHLANDS-ON-HuDsoN-RivER, February 18, 1778. 

Dear General. — I had the honor of receiving yours of the l6th 
of January about eight days since at this place, where I have re- 
turned to take charge of my brigade. In the present state of the 
army, I shall continue in my command, lest a different conduct may 
prove injurious to the cause of my country at this conjuncture of 
affairs. However my inclinations may induce me to retire to the 
enjoyment of domestic happiness, I cannot think myself war- 
ranted to indulge my wishes at a time when so many officers under 
my command are desirous of leaving the toils of war for the 
pleasures of private life. 

Almost every obstacle within the circle of possibility has hap- 
pened to retard the progress of the Obstructions in and Fortifica- 
tions on the banks of Hudson River. Preparations for com- 
pleting them are now in a state which will afford a good prospect 
of completing them in April, and unless some difficulties yet unfore- 
seen should prevent, I think we cannot fail by the fore part of that 
month to have them in a good degree of forwardness. Nothing on 
my part shall be wanting to put them in a state of forwardness to 
answer the reasonable expectations of the country as early as pos- 
sible. 

1 am &c., 

To General Washington. Sam. H. Parsons. 

General Washington replied as follows : — 

Headquarters, Valley Forge, 5th March, 1778. 
Dear Sir. — I am favored with yours of the 18th Feby. I am 
exceedingly glad to hear your determination to remain in the army 
at this time when too many are withdrawing themselves from the 
service, and I am not less pleased at the account you give me of the 
progress of the obstructions and fortifications in and upon the River. 
I can only recommend your strictest attention to a work of so much 
consequence. I must also desire that you will have all the arms 
at the different Posts in your neighborhood collected, and have those 
that want repair put into the hands of the armorers at Fishkill, for 
I am certain when we come to draw our force together in the 
spring, that we shall want arms, notwithstanding the considerable 
importations. Col. Hay of Haverstraw, informs me that there is a 
large quantity of forage collected at that place which he fears will 
fall into the enemy's hands if it is not removed or a proper guard 
sent over to protect it. As your force will not probably allow you 
to do the latter with convenience, I wish you would do all in your 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 153 

power to effect the former. The enemy, I should suppose, must 
be much distressed for the want of it, and when our stores come 
forward in the spring, our horses will stand in need of it. As Col. 
Hay complains of General Putnam's inattention to this matter when 
he represented it to him, I must beg you to see to it. 

The Committee of Congress who are now here have desired that 
no commissions be filled up till some new general arrangements of 
the army are completed. The gentlemen will not lose any of their 
pretensions to rank by waiting a little time longer for their com- 
missions, which shall be forwarded as soon as the business above 
mentioned is finished. 

Col. Webb's officers will take rank from the time he really ap- 
pointed them. As I do not know when that was, he or Lieut. Col. 
Livingston must make an exact return of their ranks and time of 
appointment &c. 

I am, dear Sir, Yours &c.. 
To General Parsons. G. Washington. 

General Parsons upon assuming command at West Point, 
found himself very much embarrassed in his efforts to hasten 
the construction of the Works, not only by the confusion in 
which the affairs of the Department had been left by General 
Putnam, but by a lack of sufficient authority to make the 
necessary contracts. Although he was able to keep the troops 
busily employed, he could not accomplish all he desired. In 
the following letter to Washington, he explains the difficulties 
under which he labors and asks what he shall do under the 
circumstances. 

Camp West Point, March 7th, 1778. 
Dear General. — In General Putnam's absence the command of 
the troops devolves on me with all the perplexities it is capable of 
being involved in. I find the resolve of Congress of the 5th of Nov. 
directing the making Obstructions in and Fortifications on the banks 
of Hudson's River and empowering General Gates to transact that 
matter, are personal to Gen. Gates and give no order or authority 
to the commanding officer as such. By a letter from your Excel- 
lency to Gen. Putnam of the 2d Dec, I find him directed to remove 
all the troops from outposts or commands and attend to fortifying 
on the River; another of the 27th of December directs that small 
parties patrol towards the Plains; by a resolve of the 18th Feb., 
Congress empowered Gov. Clinton to superintend the Works and to 



154 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

call the militia of New York, Connecticut, &c., for effecting the 
purposes, and the commanding officer at Peekskill is ordered and 
directed to give him every assistance in his power in forwarding 
and perfecting the business committed to him. Governor Clinton 
does not choose to accept the appointment, but in this and every 
other matter which will conduce to the interest of the country is 
willing to afford his aid and advice. From this state of facts your 
Excellency will see the difficult and disagreeable situation I am 
plunged into. The country expects the Works to be completed as 
early in the season as possible. The powers given by Congress are 
personal only, and evidently designed to be so, and by the resolves 
the commanding officer has no authority to concern himself about it. 
Under these circumstances I must entreat your Excellency's direc- 
tion what I shall do. I most ardently wish to aid Gov. Clinton 
or any gentleman appointed to superintend the work; at present no 
person has the direction, I suppose it to be because no man chooses 
to be responsible for the post; I have kept the troops at work be- 
cause I found them here when I took command, and had not particu- 
larly attended to the resolves of Congress concerning them; I have 
given orders and directions and caused contracts to be made for 
completing the works which I now find I had no right to concern 
myself about. Governor Clinton does not choose to give any order 
about the matter, lest he should be thought to accept his appoint- 
ment, and although I am conscious no responsibility has been in- 
curred by my orders but what was necessary, and the works are car- 
rying on by the troops under my command, yet as I now find I have 
no authority for the purpose, I do not think I have sufficient power 
to justify me in giving further orders whereby the public may incur 
an expense without some express direction for it; indeed by continu- 
ing to do it, I put myself in the power of any man who may choose 
to sacrifice me; I am fully of your Excellency's opinion that the 
troops cannot be so well employed in any other way as in perfecting 
the obstructions in and defences near the river, and shall continue 
them here until there is time to receive your Excellency's further 
orders. 

By your Excellency's letter of the 2d of December, all the troops 
are ordered here; by the 27th, part only are to be employed; by the 
resolve of the 5th of November, as many as Gen. Gates shall choose 
to employ; by that of the 18th Feb., none but militia. Whether 
your Excellency intends all the troops to be employed in the works 
or part only; whether the commanding officer here shall superintend 
the works and have discretionary powers to order and direct what 
he thinks necessary without any resolve of Congress for the purpose, 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 155 

where no person is particularly appointed for the purpose, or when 
the persons appointed refuses to accept, are questions which very 
much concern me at present and which I beg your Excellency to 
direct me in. The weather has been such since the 15th of Feb- 
ruary as has greatly retarded us in the works. About seven days of 
the time has been such that we could do nothing. I shall exert 
myself to have them in a state of defense as early as possible, so 
far as I can without, any power whatever, or by the due exercise of 
such directions as your Excellency shall please to give me. Col. 
Radiere finding it impossible to complete the fort and other defenses 
intended at this Post in such manner as to effectually withstand the 
attempts of the enemy to pass up the river early in the spring, and 
not choosing to hazard his reputation on works erected on a different 
scale, calculated for a short duration only, has desired leave to wait 
on your Excellency and Congress, which I have granted him. In 
justice to Col. Radiere, I ought to say, he appears to be a gentleman 
of science and knowledge in his profession, and disposed to render 
every service he is able to do, I shall with the advice of Governor 
Clinton expedite the building of such Works as are most necessary 
for immediate defense. 

I am &c.. 
To General Washington. Sam. H. Parsons. 

General Parsons has been criticized by some historians for 
his course in this matter, but it was plain to him as a lawyer, 
and is perfectly apparent from his presentation of the case, 
that, without the authorization of Congress, he was powerless 
to make contracts which would be binding on the Government, 
and that whatever he might do without such authority, must be 
upon his individual responsibility, as was the expedition he 
aided in setting on foot to capture Ticonderoga. Congress 
had empowered Gates and Clinton to do whatever might be 
necessary, but had neglected to confer the same authority 
upon the Commandant of the Post for the time being. That 
Washington agreed with Parsons in his contention, is manifest 
from his instructions to General McDougall, when on March 
16 he assigned him to the command of the Highlands : — " I 
have written to Congress to give you every power necessary 
to promote the objects of your command; and in the mean 
time you are to consider yourself authorized, so far as can 
depend upon me, to take every measure conducive to that end." 



156 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

On the 7th of March, 1778, Washington again wrote Par- 
sons from his headquarters at Valley Forge, as follows : — 

In a letter from General Putnam of the 13th ult., he informed 
me that there were two large scows and several gun boats on hand, 
and that the timber for two floating batteries was cut, but the work 
not begun; I must beg your attention to the completing of these 
several kinds of craft and to the repairing of any others that may 
want it. We shall have occasion for the common boats to transport 
men, baggage and stores with expedition when we are drawing our 
reinforcements from the eastward, and for the armed boats and bat- 
teries to keep open the communications should any of the enemy's 
vessels attempt to interrupt it. Gen. Putnam wrote me at the same 
time that some boats were building at Albany, but did not know in 
what forwardness they were. Be pleased to inform yourself and 
urge the necessity of having them finished." 

To this letter General Parsons replied, reporting consider- 
able progress in the work under his charge: — 

Camp West Point, March 16th 1778. 
Dear General. — On the 14th inst. I had the honor of receiving 
your letter of the 7th of March, and also one of the 8th containing 
a copy of the 5th of March. I shall pay particular attention to 
forwarding the work of the boats designed for transporting over, 
as well as those which are to be employed for defense on Hudson's 
River. I have ordered all the boats and other crafts on the River 
to be collected in different places and put to the best possible state 
immediately. I have not got a return ; when that is made I shall be 
able to give your Excellency a particular account of them. When I 
was last at Poughkeepsie, the gun boats were in siich a state as to 
give hopes of their being fit for use within a few weeks, and as Gov. 
Clinton has been kind enough to take upon himself the direction of 
them, I think we may hope to see them completed soon. I will send 
to Albany and know the state of the boats there, and as the River 
will soon be clear of ice, I will order down such boats and other 
crafts as can be had there for transportation over the River. If the 
chain is completed we shall be ready to stretch it over the River 
next week. A sufficient number of chevaux-de-frise to fill those parts 
left open last year, are ready to sink as soon as the weather and the 
state of the River will admit it to be done. I hope to have two sides 
and one bastion of the fort in some state of defense in about a fort- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 157 

night, the other sides need very little to secure them. There is a 
prospect of having five or six cannon mounted in one of our batteries 
this week. I think the Works are going on as fast as could be 
expected from our small number of men, total want of materials 
provided, and of money to purchase them. We have borrowed and 
begged and hired money to this time. I have several times ad- 
vanced my last shilling towards purchasing materials &c., and I 
believe this has been the case with almost every officer here. As we 
still live, I hope we shall accomplish the Works in the River in sea- 
son, if the enemy move with their accustomed caution and tardiness; 
when I hope Congress will repay what has been advanced, and can- 
not think us blameable if we have been compelled to subject the 
country to some extra expense to save the public credit and forward 
the business intrusted to our care. By a letter from General Put- 
nam, I shall expect his return to this Post by the end of this week. 
He has purchased three eighteen pounders mounted on travelling 
carriages, which are on the road from Boston. The contents of 
your Excellency's letter of the 8th shall be particularly attended 
to. If no other difficulties appear than at present offer themselves 
to view, perhaps an attempt may be made within eight days, much 
sooner it cannot be for reasons I will hereafter give. The letter 
of the 5th referred to in that of the eighth not having come to hand, 
gives me some concern, as that falling into the enemy's hands may 
wholly defeat us; I shall be unwilling to make the attempt unless 
it should arrive safe. The Horse mentioned by your Excellency 
cannot be had, one horseman only being at this Post at present, but 
some other mode may be substituted. 

I am your Excellency's Obedt. Servt. 

rn r^ 7 Tir 7 • , SaMUEL H. PaRSONS. 

1 (jenerai yvashington. 

On the 11th of March General Parsons wrote to Capt. 
Thomas Machin at New Windsor, the engineer employed there 
in directing the construction of the boom: — 

West Point March 11th, 1778. 

Sir. — As. Col. La Radiere has left us, I wish you, if you can be 
absent from New Windsor for a day, to come to this Post tomorrow 
or the day after, to advise about the proper method of fortifying 
this place. 

Again, in reference to the movements of the enemy in New 
York, General Parsons thus writes to General Washington 
under date: — 



158 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

FisHKiLL 20th March, 1778. 
Dear General. — By a variety of accounts from New York, the 
enemy design a speedy movement from thence; about thirty trans- 
ports are in ballast, cannon taken on board and troops marched 
from Kingsbridge to the city last Sunday. Where their destination 
is I cannot conjecture from the information I have received, I hope 
not up this River until our defense is more perfect. I this moment 
hear the fleet sailed the day before yesterday, and are said to be 
bound eastward. They went towards the Hook from New York, 
Your Excellency's letter of the 5th I received the 18th inst., and 
shall pursue your directions. 

I am your Excellency's obedt. servt. 
To General Washington. Samuel H. Parsons. 

The letters of March 5 and 8, above referred to, relate 
to a proposed attempt to capture the British Commander, Sir 
Henry Clinton, and are as follows : — 

Valley Forge, March 5th, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — I learn from undoubted authority that General Clin- 
ton quarters in Captain Kennedy's house in the city of New York, 
which you know is near Fort George and by the late fire stands in 
a manner alone. What guards may be at or near his Quarters, I can- 
not with precision say ; and, therefore, shall not say anything on 
this score, lest it should prove a misinformation ; but I think it one 
of the most practicable (and it will be amongst the most desirable 
and honorable) things imaginable to take him prisoner. 

This house lying close by the water, (No. 1, Broadway), and a 
retired way through a back yard or garden leading into it, what, if 
you have whale boats (8 or 10) but want of secrecy, can prevent 
the execution in the hands of an enterprising party. The embarka- 
tion might even be (and I should think this best), at King's Ferry 
on the first of the ebb, and early in the evening. Six or eight hours 
with change of hands, would row the boats under the west shore and 
very secretly to the city, and the flood tide will hoist them back again ; 
or a party of horse might be sent to meet them at Fort Lee. 

I had like not to have mentioned that no ship of war is in the 
North River, (was not at least ten days ago), nor within 400 yards 
of the Point, all being in the East River. I shall say no more. 
This is dropped as a hint to be improved upon or rejected as cir- 
cumstances point out and justify. I am &c., 
To General Parsons. ^- Washington. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 159 

Valley Forge, March 8, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — Below you will receive a copy of my last, dated the 
5th, to which I will add a thought which has occurred to me since 
the writing of it, and which, if the scheme is practicable at all, may 
add not a little to the success ; namely, to let the officers and soldiers 
employed in the enterprise be dressed in red, and much in the taste 
of the British soldiery. Webb's regiment will afford these dresses; 
and it might not be amiss to know certainly the number of some regi- 
ment that is quartered in the city. Under some circumstances this 
knowledge may avail them, especially if the number on their but- 
tons should correspond thereto. 

P, S. — The official papers would be a vast acquisition and might 
without difficulty accompany the person. 

I am &c., 
To General Parsons. G. Washington. 

For some reason no attempt was made at this time to carry 
the scheme into execution, but in 1780, on Christmas day, 
Major Humphreys with three officers and twenty-seven volun- 
teers made the attempt, but without success, a strong north 
wind making a landing impossible. 

The following letter from Parsons to Governor Trumbull 
shows his watchfulness, forethought, care, activity and pro- 
found interest in the cause in which he was engaged : — 

FisHKiLL, February 27, 1778. 
Sir. — The distress of the southern army is doubtless made known 
to your Excellency. No mode of relief will be left untried to relieve 
them; the provisions on the border of your State and of New York 
cannot be removed without the aid of teams, and the army must 
perish without them; and the teams cannot be furnished in this 
State. 'Tis too late to speculate about the matter; without the 
immediate coercive force of your government, in my opinion, the 
army is ruined. I must, therefore, earnestly entreat your Excel- 
lency to issue orders to impress necessary teams for the purpose of 
removing provisions &c. to the North River, and that the order may 
be transmitted to this Post without delay that I may be enabled to 
know what measures to take in pursuance thereof. 

I am &c., 

Sam. H. Parsons. 
To Governor Trumbull. 



160 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

It was the terrible winter of 1777-8, the gloomiest period of 
the whole war. Washington's army, half clad and scantily 
fed, was shivering and starving in the rude huts of Valley 
Forge. Without speedy relief it must disband. In this crisis, 
while Gates and Lee and Conway were selfishly plotting to 
deprive Washington of his command, Parsons, alive to the 
danger, with patriotic zeal was arousing his native State to 
renewed exertions and using all the means within his power to 
forward provisions to the suffering troops. This letter was 
communicated by the Governor to the General Assembly, where- 
upon it was 

Resolved by the Assembly, it being represented by General Par- 
sons, the 27th of February, 1778, that teams were needed for trans- 
portation of provisions from this State to King's Ferry for use of 
the troops, that it be the duty of any justice of the peace in Fair- 
field or Litchfield Counties to impress teams on application of 
General Parsons. 

West Point, February 28, 1778, General Parsons having 
written to Henry Laurens, President of Congress, asking 
whether, in view of the resolution of Congress, " that no de- 
serter or prisoner of war can be recruited in our services," such 
recruiting can be punished, on the 8th of March issued the 
following order to the officers in his Department: — 

Camp West Point, March 8, 1778. 

All the officers not on the recruiting service, and soldiers belong- 
ing to the several regiments in the brigade under my command, who 
have been absent on furloughs which are now expired, are to join 
their respective regiments without loss of time. This order is to 
be considered as most peremptory, and no excuse but inability will 
be admitted for want of compliance. 

And whereas there are many deserters from General Howe's 
army and from the troops lately commanded by General Burgoyne, 
some prisoners of war who have been suffered to remain at large, 
and divers suspicious or disaffected persons strolling about the 
country, who are daily offering themselves for enlistment, the sev- 
eral commissioned and non-commissioned officers now on the recruit- 
ing service, are directed and ordered in the most positive terms not 
to enlist any persons of the above description or give certificates 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 161 

concerning such persons if hired for the purpose of exempting any 
inhabitants of these States from military duty. 

And the gentlemen employed by the legislatures of the States for 
promoting the recruiting service, are desired to take notice of the 
above prohibition, and regulate their conduct accordingly. 

Samuel H. Parsons, 

Brigadier General. 

Poughkeepsie, March 26, 1778, Governor Clinton writes 
General Parsons introducing the illustrious Polish patriot and 
general, Kosciusko, then a young officer of engineers : — 

Dear Sir. — Enclosed you have a return of the artillery at Al- 
bany which in point of size falls extremely short of what I have 
h>ad reason to expect and is imagined by the Board of War. It seems 
few of the heavy pieces, which alone would have been serviceable 
for the defense of the River, have been brought forward. They 
were, it seems, sent for, but too late. The ill-contrived intended 
northern expedition occasioned the delay. 

Colonel Kuziazke, who by a resolve of Congress is directed to act 
as engineer at the Works for the security of the River, will deliver 
you this. I believe you will find him an ingenuous young man and 
disposed to do everything he can in the most agreeable manner. 

If you have any news, pray communicate it to me. 

Your most obed't. servt., 
To General Parsons. Geo. Clinton. 

General Parsons was stationed at or near West Point dur- 
ing the greater part of the years 1778 and 1779, but was 
frequently detached upon expeditions to protect the sea coast 
of his native State near Greenwich, New Haven and New Lon- 
don. How attractive the officers of his brigade found the West 
Point of that day may be inferred from the following letter 
written by Parsons to his friend. Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth 
of Connecticut, soon after he assumed the command of that 
Post :— 

Camp at West Point, Feb. 22, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — Your favor of .the 9th inst. I received by Col. 
Hughes, and thank you for the care you have taken of me. You 
ask me where I can be found .^ This is a puzzling question; the 
camp is at a place on Hudson's River called West Point, opposite 
where Fort Constitution once stood. The situation is past descrip- 
tion, surrounded with almost inaccessible mountains, and craggy 



162 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

rocks which overtop the highest hills, at present covered with piles 
of snow; the river in our front affords a beautiful prospect on our 
right and left to New Windsor on one hand and to Fort Montgomery 
on the other with some little islands interspersed. The surrounding 
prospect affords as great variety of hills, mountains, rocks, which 
seem to shut up every avenue to us, and of swamps, meadows, deep 
valleys which obstruct the passage of the traveler and of small 
beautiful plains in a good degree of cultivation intermixed, as almost 
any place I have seen; to a contemplative mind which delights in a 
lonely retreat from the world to view and admire the stupendous 
and magnificent works of nature, 'tis as beautiful as Sharon, but 
affords to a man who loves the society of the world a prospect nearly 
allied to the shades of death; here I am to be found at present in 
what situation of mind you will easily imagine. Mr. Dwight and 
Major Humphreys are now here, and a good companion now and 
then adds to the number of my agreeable family. 

News arrives here by accident only. The account of Burgoyne's 
defeat reached the ears of administration via Carleton about the 5th 
of December. (I dare say 'twas sent by him with expedition and 
good relish.) The nation was put into a great consternation, but 
after three or four days recovered their surprise and voted 20,000 
additional troops about the 8th of December. 

I am heartily glad Col. DeLancey has returned, the more so as 
the gentry of this State were flushed with hopes he would violate his 
honor and act the base part they wished; though at present he can- 
not be exchanged, nothing on my part shall be omitted to render the 
state of a prisoner as easy to him as a man of honor has reason to 
expect; my compliments await him, with my wishes that his personal 
enemies may never have greater cause to triumph over him than his 
present conduct has afforded. Col. Webb, I hear, will not be ex- 
changed at present; perhaps 'tis right. I earnestly wish to know 
what we are about in Connecticut, what prospects of filling and sup- 
porting our army &c. 

The Major Humphreys he mentions, is David Humphreys, 
the poet-soldier of the Revolution and later on the Aid and con- 
fidential friend of Washington. The previous spring he had 
been appointed Brigade Major or Assistant Adjutant General 
on Parsons' staff, and was now serving in that capacity. In 
the following extract from a poem written by him entitled, 
" The Happiness of America," he alludes to his staff service 
with Parsons : — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 163 

" I too, perhaps, should Heaven prolong my date. 
The oft-repeated tale shall oft relate; 
Shall tell the feelings in the first alarms, 
Of some bold enterprise th' unequalled charms; 
Shall tell from whom I learnt the martial art. 
With what high chiefs I play'd my early part, 
With Parsons first, whose eye with piercing ken, 
Reads through their hearts the characters of men: 
Then how I aided, in the foll'wing scene, 
Death-daring Putnam — then immortal Greene — 
Then how great Washington my youth approved. 
In rank prefer'd, and as a parent loved." 

The Mr. Dwight referred to In the letter is the Rev. 
Timothy Dwight, the distinguished theologian and scholar, 
afterwards President of Yale College and at this time Chap- 
lain of Parsons' brigade. In May, 1777, Congress limited the 
number of chaplains to one to each brigade. They were to be 
appointed by Congress on the recommendation of the brigade 
commander, and to have a colonel's pay and rations. On the 
6th of October, 1777, Mr. Dwight received his appointment, 
presumably upon Parsons' recommendation and perhaps at the 
suggestion of Humphreys who was Dwight's college friend. 
The spiritual wants of the brigade do not appear to have taken 
up all the chaplain's time, for in March, 1778, he writes to 
Washington for permission to dedicate to him a poem, " The 
Conquest of Canaan by Joshua," published in 1785. The 
following is his letter: — 

West Point, March 8, 1778. 

May it please your Excellency. — The application which is the 
subject of this letter, is, I believe, not common in these American 
regions, yet I hope it will not on that account be deemed imperti- 
nence or presumption. For several years I have been employed in 
writing a poem on the Conquest of Canaan by Joshua. This poem, 
upon the first knowledge of your Excellency's character, I deter- 
mined, with leave, to inscribe to you. If it will not be too great a 
favor, it will certainly be remembered with gratitude. 

I am not insensible that the subject of this request is delicate; as 
consent on the part of your Excellency cannot possibly add to your 
reputation, and may be followed by consequences of a disagreeable 
nature. Of the merit or demerit of the work, your Excellency can- 



164! LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

not form a guess but from the character of the writer, with which 
you will be made acquainted by General Parsons, who does me the 
honor to enclose this in one from himself. All that I can say upon 
the subject (and I hope I may assert it with propriety) is, that I 
am so independent a Republican, and so honest a man, as to be 
incapable of a wish to palm myself upon the world under the patron- 
age of another, as to be remote from any sinister view in this appli- 
cation, and to disdain making the proffer, slight as it is, to the most 
splendid personage, for whose character I have not a particular 
esteem. I am with the greatest respect. 

Your Excellency's most obedient and humble servant, 

Timothy Dwight, Jr. 

This letter was enclosed in one from General Parsons to 
General Washington, in which the General expresses his high 
appreciation of his Chaplain : — 

He is [writes Parsons] a person of extensive literature, an 
amiable private character, and has happily united that virtue and 
piety which ought ever to form the character of a gentleman, with 
the liberal and generous sentiments and agreeable manners of a 
gentleman. Of the merits of the performance he mentions, I am 
not a competent judge. Many gentlemen of learning and taste for 
poetical writings who have examined it with care and attention, 
esteem this work in the class of the best writings of the kind. He 
will be particularly obliged to your Excellency if it shall make its 
first appearance under your patronage. 

West Point, March 7, 1778. 

Ten days afterwards Washington replied to Mr. Dwight's 
application as follows : — 

Headquarters, Valley Forge, 18th March, 1778. 
Dear Sir. — I yesterday received your favor of the 8th inst., 
accompanied by so warm a recommendation from General Parsons, 
that I cannot but form favorable presages of the merits of the work 
you propose to honor me with the dedication of. Nothing can give 
me more pleasure than to patronize the essays of genius, and a 
laudable cultivation of the arts and sciences which had begun to 
flourish in so eminent a degree before the hand of oppression was 
stretched over our devoted country. And I shall esteem myself 
hapjjy, if a poem, which has employed the labor of years, will derive 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 165 

any advantage, or bear more weight in the world, by making its 
appearance under a dedication to me. 

Dwight and Humphreys were at this time twenty-six years 
old; Parsons was nearly forty-one. In the brigade were 
Colonel Wyllys, Lieut. Colonels Grosvenor and Sherman, 
Major Gray and several junior officers, all, as well as Dwight 
and Humphreys, Yale men. With such a surrounding of the 
"blue," it is perhaps not surprising that Parsons, a Harvard 
man, should have desired to add " a good companion now and 
then to his agreeable family." There were also in the camp 
employed as engineers on the fortifications. Colonel Rufus Put- 
nam and the Polish patriot, Kosciusko, who was retained in 
preference to Colonel La Radiere at the desire of General Par- 
sons and Governor Clinton. The Fort on the high grounds back 
of the Point, is said to have been built by Putnam's regiment 
during the Spring of 1778. 



CHAPTER XV 

At West Point. Correspondence with Generals McDougall 
AND Gates. Arrest of Oliver DeLancey. Letter to Dr. 
William Walter. Parsons Joins Washington's Army at 
White Plains. 

March — August, 1788 

Since the capture of Forts Montgomery and Clinton and the 
ravages of the enemy on the upper Hudson, a strong opposi- 
tion had grown up among the people of the State of New 
York to the military administration of General Putnam in the 
Highlands. Good-natured and easy-going, without the energy 
and decision of his early years, to his careless and inefficient 
management was charged the seemingly unnecessary delay in 
constructing the defenses at West Point. This feeling had 
become so general, that it was impossible to obtain from the 
inhabitants the necessary assistance while he remained even 
the nominal head of the Department. Chancellor Livingston, 
expressing in a letter to Washington the general dissatisfac- 
tion, wrote, January 14, 1778: — 

Unfortunately for him the current of popular opinion in this 
and the neighboring States, and, so far as I can learn, in the troops 
under his command, runs strongly against him. For my own part, 
I respect his bravery and former services, and sincerely lament, 
that his patriotism will not suffer him to take that repose to which 
his advanced age and past services justly entitle him. 

To this letter Washington replied on the 12th of March: — 

Proper measures are taking to carry on the inquiry into the loss 
of Fort Montgomery agreeable to the direction of Congress, and it 
is more than probable, from what I have heard, that the issue of the 
inquiry will afford just grounds for the removal of General Put- 
nam, but whether it does or not, the prejudices of all ranks in that 
quarter against him are so great, that he must at all events be pre- 
vented from returning. I hope to introduce a gentleman in his 

166 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 167 

place^ if the general course of the service will admit of it, who will 
be perfectly agreeable to the State and to the public. In the mean- 
time I trust that General Parsons will do everything in his power 
to carry on the Works, which, from his last accounts, are in more 
forwardness than I expected. 

Feeling that the public interests required that the general 
control and direction of all the Posts in the Highlands should 
be vested in one officer, and he of the highest rank, Washing- 
ton, on the 16th, ordered Major General McDougall to repair 
thither and assume the chief command. At the same time he 
asked Congress to resolve the doubt raised by General Parsons 
as to the authority of the commandant for the time being to do 
whatever might be necessary in the construction of the Works, 
in view of the previous resolutions in favor of Generals Gates 
and Clinton. 

On the same day he wrote Putnam announcing the appoint- 
ment of McDougall, and relieving him from the command: — 

My reason for making the change is owing to the prejudices of 
the people, which, whether well or ill grounded, must be indulged; 
and I should think myself wanting in justice to the public and candor 
towards you, were I to continue you in a command, after I have 
been almost in direct terms informed, that the people of the State 
of New York will not render the necessary support and assistance, 
while you remain at the head of that Department. When the inquiry 
is finished, I desire that you will return to Connecticut and superin- 
tend the forwarding on the new levies with the greatest expedition. 

Two days afterwards Washington wrote to Parsons, 
acknowledging his letter of the 7th, enclosing that of Mr. 
Dwight, and replying to his statement of the perplexities in 
which, by the several resolutions and orders, the whole business 
of the construction of the Works was involved, and advised 
him of McDougall's appointment, as follows : — 

Headquarters, March 18, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — I am favored with yours of the 7th, enclosing a letter 
from Rev. Mr. Dwight, to whom I have written on the matter pro- 
posed by him. 

I am sorry to hear that any seeming inconsistency in my letters 
should, among other things, have retarded the execution of the 
Works, but if you will revert to my letters of the 2d and 27th of 



168 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

December^ you will find that my orders were express to keep the 
troops, meaning the main body of them, steadily to work. I men- 
tioned a liberty of sending out light parties towards the Plains, 
because they were necessary, not only to curb small foraging parties 
of the enemy, but for the security of the Camp. 

To reconcile all matters and to obviate the jealousies that, whether 
well or ill founded, had taken place, I have ordered General 
McDougall to take the command at the Highlands, and vested him 
with full powers to superintend the whole, at least until Congress 
have determined whether the command of the Forts and the superin- 
tendency of the Works shall be distinct and independent of that 
Department. I am &c., 

G. Washington. 
To General Parsons. 

On the 28th of March, Major General McDougall assumed 
command of the Northern Department, including the High- 
lands, but General Parsons appears to have remained in com- 
mand at West Point. On the 31st, Washington wrote General 
McDougall as follows : — 

Valley Forge, March SI, 177S. 
Dear Sir. — That part of the troops at New York have left that 
place, admits of no doubt. The accounts of the number vary from 
2300 to 2500, all of whom, there is reason to believe, have arrived 
at Philadelphia. . . . By report, Rhode Island was to be evacu- 
ated and the garrison brought to Philadelphia. This, if true, evi- 
dently proves that General Howe intends an early campaign to 
take advantage of our weak state. What is to be done? We must 
either oppose our whole force to his in this quarter, or take advan- 
tage of him in some other, which leads me to ask your opinion of 
the practicability of an attempt on New York with Parsons' brigade, 
Nixon's and the regiments of Van Schaick, Hazen and James Liv- 
ingston, aided by the militia from the States of New York and Con- 
necticut, such I mean as can speedily be drawn together. On this 
subject and the advisableness of such an enterprise, I would have 
you consult Governor Clinton and General Parsons, and them only. 
It is unnecessary for me to add that the most profound secrecy 
should attend your operations if the scheme is adopted. 

I am &c.. 
To General McDougall, G. Washington. 

April 13, General McDougall replied to General Washing- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 169 

ton, discouraging the enterprise, and for his reasons referred 
to the accompanying report of General Parsons and Governor 
Clinton : — 

FisHKiLL, April 13, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — I am honored with the receipt of your favors of the 
31st ult. and 6th inst. The inclosures in the last have been for- 
warded agreeable to your orders. 

No service would be more agreeable to me than an attack upon 
New York, could I recommend it consistent with any probable 
prospect of success. But the condition and strength of these Posts 
utterly forbid it; especially when the consequence of a misfortune 
in the attempt is duly considered, as it may effect the supplies to 
your army and the general influence of the campaign. 

When I have more leisure I shall enumerate the reasons on which 
Igive this opinion. For the present I beg leave to refer your Excel- 
lency to that of Governor Clinton and General Parsons. Mr. 
Kosciusko is esteemed by those who have attended the Works at 
West Point, to have more practice than Col. De la Radiere, and his 
manner of treating the people more acceptable than that of the 
latter ; which induced General Parsons and Governor Clinton to 
desire the former may be continued at West Point. The first has a 
commission as Engineer with the rank of Colonel in October 1776; 
Col De la Radiere's commission I think is dated in November last. 

The following is the report: — 

That the regiment proposed be sent forward; that preparations 
be immediately made, with as much dispatch as possible to execute 
the whole or such part of the proposed plan as circumstances will 
admit of; that application be made to Governor Trumbull to know 
what number of the new made regiments can be had and at what 
time ; that the Commissary-General be also applied to for an account 
of provisions &c. That the enterprise does not promise success by 
Coup de Main under present circumstances ; but there may be great 
probability of its succeeding in the whole or in part within a month 
or five weeks if men and provisions can be had. The present state 
of the Posts for the defense of the North River does not admit 
withdrawing the troops for the proposed expedition immediately, 
but in a few weeks the Works may be in some state of defense, so 
as to be tenable with fewer men than at present and the consequences 
less fatal to the country in case of the expedition failing in the 
execution. Sam'l H. Parsons 

Geo. Clinton 



170 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

To this letter Washington rephed from Valley Forge, 
April 22 :— 

I am perfectly satisfied with your delay of the enterprise pro- 
posed by you, as I am certain it has been founded on substantial 
reasons. Congress, by their resolve of the 15th inst., directed Gen- 
eral Gates to resume command of the Northern Department, and to 
repair forthwith to Fishkill for that purpose. I imagine he will 
proceed immediately thither. Upon his arrival there, I must desire 
you to return to the army and take command of your division. As 
Colonel Radiere and Colonel Kosciusko will never agree, I think it 
will be best to order Radiere to return, especially as you say 
Kosciusko is better adapted to the genius and temper of the people. 

Governor Trumbull was very desirous that an attack should 
be made upon New York, and, on the 10th inst., had written 
Governor Clinton respecting the matter. Clinton replied, stat- 
ing that such an expedition had been under consideration and 
gave the reasons which had induced its postponement: — 

PouGHKEEPSiE, May 1, 1778. 

Sir. — I am favored with your letter of the lOth ultimo. 

An expedition against New York for the same reasons mentioned 
in your Excellency's letter, was suggested by his Excellency, Gen- 
eral Washington and the practicability of it submitted to Generals 
McDougall, Parsons and myself. General Parsons, who soon after 
our consultation on the subject went into Connecticut, will have 
acquainted your Excellency vpith the result and the obstacles which 
prevented the carrying such expedition into immediate execution. 
These will soon be removed. The fortresses in the Highlands may 
soon be completed, or at least rendered defensible against a sudden 
assault. Grass will supply the want of forage and a sufficient maga- 
zine of provisions I am persuaded can be collected and the militia 
wish to engage in the service. This being the case, I conceive that 
at the end of a few weeks, there will not be any objections against 
a measure which, if successful, will be attended with the most 
salutary consequences, and if not fully executed, may be so con- 
ducted as at least to serve as a diversion favorable to General 
Washington. 

I am &c., 

Geo. Clinton. 
To Governor Trumbull. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 171 

General Parsons replies to a note from General McDougall 
as follows : — 

West Point, April 2, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — I received your favor of this date and shall attend 
to the business recommended therein; the boat shall be sent up 
agreeable to your directions. If the accounts given by the spy 
are true, the five deserters sent you to day ought doubtless to be 
confined, as in that case there can be no question but they are on the 
same errand to spy out our situation. 

Yr. obet. servt., 
To General McDougall. Sam. H. Parsons. 

General Parsons having advised General McDougall that 
several vessels had been seen coming up the river with the 
apparent intention of attacking, or at least reconnoitering the 
Works at West Point, McDougall directed him to defend the 
position to the last, and said that he had sent Nixon's regiment 
to his aid: — 

Headquarters, Fishkill, Ji,th April, 1778. 

Sir. — I received yours of 25 minutes past 8 o'clock of this morn- 
ing. Those vessels are probably coming up to reconnoiter the 
state of your Works, whatever may be their object. The completing 
the Works and Obstructions are of so much importance, that you 
must defend the Ground to the utmost of your power, for should 
the enemy destroy those Works and Barracks, the completing the 
Works and Obstructions cannot be accomplished this campaign. If 
the enemy should appear in tolerable force, your strength should 
be disposed in the best position to defend West Point. I shall be 
obliged to risk the Post here to the defence of the militia till the 
Continental troops arrive from below and Albany; you did right 
to order the stores from King's Ferry. Mr. Mudock has sent off 
a number of stores to you this morning; if the 18 pound cartridges 
are not sent, I have ordered my Aid to him to despatch them with 
the whale boat and 24 rounds of musket cartridges for 700 men. A 
mortar will be of little use to you against a ship, as her movement, 
even when she is at anchor, is so various with wind and tide. 
The howitzer which you have will be of more use to you. A good 
lookout as far down the River as your boats can go with safety, and 
the inclosing the Work should be steadily pursued. If their three 
vessels should come near, your scouts should be sent out on both 
sides of the River where it is probable they may land a small party 
to reconnoiter the state of your Works. These are the general 



172 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

objects I wish you to attend to. I have this morning wrote for Col. 
Nixon's regiment and suggested to Governor Clinton the necessity 
of having the militia in a state of readiness. If the enemy visit you 
soon, I shall do everything in my power for your relief; you have 
now all the force I can give you unless I call the militia out. And if 
this is done upon the appearance of three vessels, they will not turn 
out so readily when they may be wanted for serious service. Cap- 
tain Sloo with his men and boats are so exposed to be cut off by a 
small party from those vessels, or any other, that I wish you to 
order him to send up all the boats and scows except two, and their 
crews to Fishkill Landing, and in case he finds himself in danger 
to remove there to the Fly, as I have no guard to give him. The 
return of the Corps at West Point will be made every Friday, and 
the Command particularly designated at the return. If you can 
send to him by water, cause the enclosed to be delivered to Major 
Thearse. 

I am in haste. Your Humble Servant, 

Alex, McDougall. 
To General Parsons. 

In the latter part of April, General Parsons went to Lyme in 
Connecticut, his native town, whence, on the 27th, he wrote to 
General McDougall respecting the condition of the Commis- 
sary Department in that State and the proposed attack upon 
New York, as follows : — 

Lyme, 27th April, 1778. 
Dear General. — I have carefully examined the state of provis- 
ions in the Commissary Department, and believe the meat in this 
State already purchased will supply the army to about the 10th of 
June, from which there will be some distress in the army for that 
article for some short time, perhaps to the middle of July, unless 
supplied from other States, southward and westward of this. Gov- 
ernor Trumbull is very desirous to pursue the proposed attack on 
New York, and will do what any man can do to forward the design. 
He desires the troops may not be called for until our preparations 
are made, that they may be detained as little time as possible; but 
in the interim he would wish to be informed early whether the 
design is pursued or laid aside. The important advice from France 
and the evident distress of Britain, in my opinion, affords us the 
best opportunity of attacking the enemy with the fairest prospects 
of success ; long delays I fear will be detrimental, especially when 
the insidious arts of the British Court have begun to be practiced, 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 173 

and may have too baneful an influence if they are suffered to con- 
tinue long in their present state. I wish to hear from your Honor 
by return of post, that if my continuance in this State any longer 
can be of any public utility, I may receive your orders; otherwise, 
I believe I shall be able to return in about a fortnight. If we make 
the proposed attack, I am of opinion I shall be of more service by 
staying here till the order is made and the levies nearly completed 
which are expected from this State, than I can be at your Post." 

I am &c., 

Sam. H. Parsons. 
To General McDougall. 

On the 22d of May, General Parsons, having returned from 
Connecticut to West Point, wrote General Washington regard- 
ing one, Hammell, and the enemy's force in New York, as 
learned from deserters, refugees, spies and the inhabitants ; 
also as to the condition of the defenses at West Point. 

About the middle of May, General Gates assumed command 
of the Northern Department. By the resolution of Congress 
appointing him to this command, he had been invested with 
extensive powers for completing the Works on the North 
River, and had, also, been " authorized to carry on opera- 
tions against the enemy if any favorable opportunity should 
occur " ; but to guard against the insubordination displayed 
by him after the Burgoyne campaign, he was at the same time 
enjoined "not to undertake any expedition against New York 
without previously consulting the Commander-in-Chief." 

The four following letters relate to the capture of young 
Oliver DeLancey, the successor of Major Andre as Sir Henry 
Clinton's Adjutant General, of whom we shall hear more later 
on. 

Harrison's Precincts, May 22, 1778. 

May it please your Honour, Sir. — That on the 20th inst. a 
detachment under my command proceeded to West Chester at Wil- 
lets' Point at a house now occupied by one, Oliver DeLancey, a 
person whom Col. Miggs had orders from his Honour, General 
Parsons, to make a prisoner (as I was informed) which Col. Miggs 
sent off a detachment in order to take said DeLancey, but was dis- 
appointed by reason that Mr. DeLancey was absent from his native 
place of abode. Therefore, on the 20th of this instant, he happily 
fell into my hands, which I have the pleasure to convey by Lieut. 



1T4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Wattles to your Honour, but as for the character of said Mr. DeLan- 
cey, undoubtedly General Parsons will acquaint your Honour with. 
Therefore, I have the pleasure to subscribe myself, 

Your Honour's most obdt. servt. 
To Governor Clinton. Thomas Barnes Capt. 

White Plains, May 23, 1778. 
Col. Morris Graham, stationed there, writes to General Gates 
regarding Oliver DeLancey, " that all reports from our friends in 
the enemy's power agree that he has always acted friendly. Since 
I have commanded at this Post, Mr. DeLancey has never kept out 
of the way ; so far from it, he sent me word when I first came here, 
that if he was in any way suspected and I would acquaint him with 
it, he would appear." 

Headquarters, Fishkill, May 2Jf., 1778. 
Sir. — Mr. Frederick Jay brings to your Excellency, Mr. Oliver 
DeLancey, whom the General considers as a prisoner of this State; 
and I am commanded to request your Excellency will give such 
orders respecting him as your Excellency may think proper. I have 
the honor to be with the greatest respect. Sir, 

Your Excellency's most humble obet. servt., 

Robert Troup A. D. C. to Gen. Gates. 
To Governor Clinton. 

Poughkeepsie, May 26, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — I received your letter by Mr. Jay, who called upon 
me this morning with Oliver DeLancey, Jr. Though I have heard 
many circumstances in favor of Mr. DeLancey, yet, at this critical 
juncture, I have thought it most advisable to consider him a prisoner 
and have accordingly put him upon his parole at a place called 
" the city " in this County, about twenty miles east of this — a very 
safe place inhabited by good subjects. I have promised him that 
orders should be given to preserve his stock and effects from being 
taken by our people in his absence, and that his horse, now in Capt. 
Barnes possession, should be delivered up to Mr. Stevens or Col. 
Thomas of Westchester County for his use, which you will oblige 
me by so doing. 

DeLancey is a very bad name. 

I am with greatest respect, 

Geo. Clinton. 
To Major General Gates. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 175 

The following is from Parsons to his friend Colonel Wads- 
worth in Hartford: — 

West Point, May 25, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — The designs of the enemy are yet a secret. It is the 
opinion that they intend leaving Philadelphia. Three ships, a gal- 
ley and cutter are at King's Ferry. This seems inexplicable, as one 
ship will effectually stop that passage as well as a greater number. 
I have sent a boat to Fort Lee to see what they are about at Fort 
Washington. When I make any discoveries of importance I will 
let you know. I know you are wondering how we like General 
Gates. I can only answer, he appears to be satisfactory, but a 
Washington is still our preference. We had the alliance with 
France celebrated at the Point. The Duke was uncommonly gay 
and Dr. Cooper in the meridian of his glory never poured forth so 
great a shower of puns as came from our friend in his nocturnal 
cogitations. Yours &c., 

Samuel H. Parsons. 
To Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth, Hartford. 

On the 31st, General Parsons advises General Gates, the 
Commander of the Department, of the report brought by his 
Adjutant, Major Humphreys, as to the number and disposition 
of the troops in New York, as follows : — 

West Point, SI May, 1778. 
Dear General. — Major Humphreys has just returned and re- 
ports that the 5 2d regiment commanded by Col. French, marched 
from New York the 23d inst. and encamped near Kingsbridge in a 
line with the 45th. The 71st regiment has arrived at the Bridge 
from Long Island; the regiments of the Hereditary Prince, Prince 
Charles of Trumback of Stein, are all the foreign troops he could 
learn remained on York Island ; two of which are in the Bowery near 
the city, and two near Kingsbridge; the 38th British regiment is in 
the city; most, if not all, the new levies are marched from the Bridge 
to the city about eight days since; part of them embarked on board 
ships at Horn's Hook; the public report is they are going to Long 
Island to replace the troops which have been called from thence to 
the Bridge. 'Tis publicly reported that a French war actually 
exists at this time ; the press was very hot in New York ; the accounts 
of the numbers obtained in this way are various from 250 to 1000, 
however, they all agree they are for the sea service and are put on 
ship board. A considerable number of shipping were in the East 



176 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

River a few days since, and the evening of the 29th a fleet from 
New York came to anchor in the Sound near Hart Island opposite 
East Chester and New Rochelle, supposed to be about 20 or 30 
ships; a press is expected every day upon Long Island; the Refugees 
are concealing themselves to avoid it. 

All communication with the city has been prohibited for some 
time, evidently to cover their movements; this being effected, the 
inhabitants are again permitted to pass over the Bridge with pro- 
visions &c. On the whole, 'tis pretty evident, instead of collecting 
a force at the Bridge, their strength is lessened, and the new levies 
have doubtless business in some other quarter; a paper of the 25th 
of INIay from New York I have sent you. When I have the honor 
to wait on you I shall be able to give some more particular accounts. 

I understand you design to visit the troops at Peekskill to-day, 
and I shall therefore call upon you in the morning." 

I am &c., 
To General Gates. Sam. H. Parsons. 

June 4th, Parsons writes to Gates respecting the artillery : — 

West Point, Jf.th of June, 1778. 

Dear General. — The artillerists at the Point are by no means 
sufficient in number to manage the artillery here. Col. Stevens' 
three companies may be very usefully employed at this Post. Their 
numbers will enable us to put the artillery in a proper state. If no 
special purpose is to be answered by removing them to the Village, 
I shall be much obliged by Col. Stevens and his men remaining at 
this Post for the present. If any companies, of the train are wanted 
at the Village more than are now there, a company of Col. Lamb's 
regiment perhaps, on many accounts, had better be sent. That 
regiment has been in contention from their raising, and I am certain 
Captain Moody and Colonel Stevens will never agree in the same 
camp. As soon as the weather will permit, 'twill be necessary for 
them to encamp ; if your Honor shall be of opinion the service will 
be as well advanced by their continuing here as removing, I should 
be happy in his receiving your order to take his post at this place. 

Will it be necessary to publish in General Orders that Colonel 
Stevens commands the Artillery.^ Many unhappy disputes may be 
prevented by it." I am &c., 

Sam. H. Parsons. 
To General Gates. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 177 

On the 8th of June General Parsons writes to General Gates 
respecting affairs in New York : — 

West Point, June 8, 1778. 

Dear General. — By the information of deserters and the con- 
curring accounts of inhabitants near the Bridge, there are three 
Hessian and two British regiments in the city; one battalion of 
Highlanders at Bloomingdale ; at Fort Washington and the Bridge, 
two British regiments, viz: the 45th and 52d, two Hessian regi- 
ments, Bruverton's and Bayard's regiments and Emerick's Chas- 
seurs; one 12 and 6 pounders in Fort Independence; two of 18, 
two of 1 2 and five of 6 and under, in Fort Washington. The cannon 
removed from the embrasures in Fort Washington on the side next 
the North River. Fort Independence not picketed but an abatis 
around it; a captain's guard kept in the fort relieved every three 
days ; in the redoubts are guards from twenty-five to thirty-six men. 
By the information of returning refugees, it appears the enemy are 
establishing a camp at the head of the Fly on Long Island. Cruger's, 
Ludlow's, Fanning's and a regiment of Brown's brigade are to 
encamp there, perhaps one thousand men. A regiment of regular 
Tories at Brookline, I suppose the 35th; this regiment received 
orders last Tuesday to march eastward on the Island, and their heavy 
baggage to be put on ship board; by the information of Jos. Law- 
rence and Samuel Riker, from New York, two British regiments 
received orders to embark the 6th inst., but where destined is un- 
certain. No particular information of Robinson's regiment. I 
think it probable they still remain at Harlem. The ships are thinly 
manned and cannot remove without increasing the number of hands. 
Those at Huntington are ordered ready to sail some time next week. 
The enemy are strengthening their Works on Bayard's Hill, but 
in what manner I am unable to learn. On the whole matter it ap- 
pears evident to me the enemy are not preparing to make any 
capital attack on the country, but are securing themselves from any 
attempt we may make in the city. 

The camp at the Fly on Long Island I think well chosen to 
defend the city on that part. 'Tis about eight or nine miles from 
the Ferry, and from the creek near the camp to Jamaica Bay on 
the south side of the Island, about five miles; and the passes through 
the mountains are effectually secured by this Post which leaves it 
exceeding difficult to move forward to Brooklyn with any artillery; 
and will enable the enemy to send occasional parties down the 



178 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Island and compel what supplies and provisions and forage from 
Suffolk County can be spared. I believe that County can feed three 
thousand men six months. 

I am &c., 
To General Gates. Sam. H. Parsons. 

About the middle of April there arrived in New York a draft 
of Lord North's " Conciliatory Bill," so called, containing a 
new project submitted by him to Parliament for settling the 
differences between Great Britain and the United States. 
Having been received by Congress, it was unanimously 
resolved, " that the terms offered are totally inadequate, and 
that no advances on the part of the British Government for a 
peace would be met, unless, as a preliminary step, they either 
withdrew their armies and fleets, or acknowledged unequivo- 
cally the independence of the United States." May 10, 1778, 
General Parsons wrote to Colonel Webb, who was still a 
prisoner in the hands of the British, informing him of the 
action of the Ministry, as having a possible bearing on the 
question of his speedy release: — 

Dear Sir. — I have enclosed you the Crisis No. 5 ; the draft of 
a bill once read in one House of the British Parliament, which is 
called the Conciliatory Plan of the British Ministry; the answer 
of Congress refusing to treat on any other condition than an un- 
conditional acknowledgement on the part of Great Britain of the 
independence of the United States, and also, the terms of the 
treaty with France, I should have sent you, but have mislaid them. 
The substance you may find in the enclosed hand-bill. 

Be patient. I hope you will soon find that peace restored to these 
States which every good man wishes, both lasting and honorable. 
Your friends are well. My compliments to your fellow prisoners. 

I am &c.. 
To Colonel Samuel B. Webb. S. H. Parsons. 

In June, while on the seacoast, he again writes Webb, as 
follows : — 

HoRSENECK, June 7, 1778. 

Dear Colonel. — I am occasionally at this place. I find Mr. 
Drummond going to New York, who is kind enough to engage to 
deliver to you this letter. As I shall return in the morning to West 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 179 

Point, I have not time to give you much information, nor would it 
be proper, as this will probably pass into such hands as are not 
entitled to information from me. Your friends are anxious for your 
return. Conciliatory Acts of Parliament come too late after so much 
bloodshed and waste of treasure. Perhaps there might be recon- 
ciliation if Commissioners were empowered to recognize our national 
indejDendence. Our friend, Mr. Hosmer, and family are well and 
express concern often for you and other prisoners. 

I am &c., 
To Colonel S. B. JVebb. S. H. Parsons. 



The following communication was written in reply to two 
letters from Rev. Dr. William Walter, an old and intimate 
friend of Parsons, a classmate at Harvard and formerly 
Rector of Trinity Church in Boston, who, not finding the 
atmosphere of his old home congenial after the departure of 
the British, had removed with his familly to New York. 
Walter's letters have not been preserved, but they seem to have 
dealt largely upon the advantages to be secured by a reconcilia- 
tion, and expressed great regret that the offer of Lord North's 
Commissioners had not been accepted and an end put to this 
unhappy war. Had Parsons been endowed with prophetic 
vision, he could not have discerned the future more certainly, 
or perceived the true interests of Britain more clearly, than 
he did when penning his reply : — " I fully believe," he says, 
" we shall establish that independency we have been compelled 
to declare; and this event, in my opinion, does not rest on the 
consent of Britain or the assistance of France. Our internal 
resources are sufficient to continue this war as long as can be 
necessary to attain this end, and we are better able to pay our 
national debt than Britain can ever be to discharge her own. 
We have boundless tracts of uncultivated land, a great source 
of wealth to our nation. You are confined to an island already 
in an high state of cultivation, and have little more to expect. 
We shall increase in numbers, wealth and vigor, when you have 
already reached the zenith of your power. ... I own 
freely, I do not wish to see Great Britain reduced so low as to 
become a small weight in the political scale of Europe. When 
she sees her true interest, this war will cease, and that mutual 



180 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

intercourse again take place which was and will be the only 
source of wealth she ought to derive from us." 

December 12th, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — I thank you for your kind letter of the 27th Novem- 
ber, and copy of that of the 14th September. 

Your opinions are always heard by me with the candor of a 
friend, and have the advantage of being addressed to one who has 
a most cordial affection for the writer and can make every reason- 
able allowance for the motives operating on the passions of my 
friend whose character from early life I have fully known and to 
whose honest intentions I give full credit. I have read with atten- 
tion your sentiments of the contest at this time — they can be of no 
public advantage nor can they affect my own conduct. The Com- 
missioners having executed their trust and gone back to report the 
inefficacy of their overtures and reasoning, can now have no 
influence on public measures. The appeal to arms has long since 
been made and argument gives way to the fate of war. However, 
for our private amusement, I will spend a leisure hour at any time 
in fully exchanging our sentiments on the public measures of the 
contending powers and the true interests of the two countries, so far 
as may be safe for us in our several situations in life. In a per- 
sonal interview, I should be much more happy, for then I could 
freely unbosom myself in the confidence of friendship. I freely 
own the offers of Great Britain are such as once would have satis- 
fied the claims of every Colony now in the Confederacy, but your 
conclusion can in no measure be just that they now ought to be 
accepted, were it not for the French alliance. The supremacy of 
Parliament was what we originally denied, and that claim caused 
the present war. The injuries we received by extending that claim 
were all we asked to be redressed in, but can you convince yourself 
that after three years of war, in which we have lost thousands of 
our youth and expended two millions of our treasure, in which time 
our towns have been laid in ashes, in some instances, wantonly, and 
attended with such circumstances as would provoke the resentments 
of the most unfeeling mind; after our wives and infant children 
have been sacrificed to the brutal rage of the savages, stimulated to 
those acts of barbarity by the unrelenting cruelty of a British 
Ministry, can you, I say, convince yourself the controversy is now in 
the same state it 'was in 1775. At that, what was the extent of our 
just claims at that time, is the measure of our rights at this day. I 
freely tell you I am of a very different opinion, and were France 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 181 

sunk into everlasting oblivion, the conduct of the British Court 
since the nineteenth of April, 1775, will be a just bar to a reunion 
with Great Britain in any degree of subordination. You say every 
office of honor and profit are accessible to men of abilities, as well 
Americans as Britons; that we shall derive greater benefits from 
our reunion than from a state of independency; our expenses of 
Ambassadors, Envoys, Consuls, &c., will be saved us; our trade 
protected, &c. These are reasons which ought to have their weight, 
and doubtless have been duly considered in estimating the profit 
and loss of a separation or union with Great Britain again. How 
far the expenses of government will be balanced by our enlarged 
commerce, is a subject I am not so competent a judge in, as of some 
other parts of the contest, and, therefore, shall leave that to others 
whose knowledge is greater in those matters than my own. You 
add, "our honor is pledged (to France); we cannot return;" and 
ar'nt you of the same opinion, my friend? I confess myself one 
of those deluded mortals who believe public faith as sacred as 
private agreements, and that 'tis as inconsistent with the honor of 
a nation to recede from the one, as it is to the moral or civil char- 
acter of a private gentleman to violate the other. 

But, Sir, you are mistaken when you assert this alliance was 
formed after the Court of Great Britain had fully conceded all our 
original claims. 'Tis a fact France had agreed to the Articles of 
our Alliance in December; that the treaty was signed the 7th of 
February, and the concessions not made by Britain till the 17th of 
the same month; but 'tis equally true, we did in the most solemn 
manner declare we had not the most distant intention of separating 
from Great Britain; for the sincerity of this declaration at the 
time when t'was made, I appeal to your own knowledge of the 
country. I am certain it was not at that time the most distant 
wish of the country to be separated from Great Britain, nor would 
anything but force on their part and necessity on ours, have com- 
pelled us to this measure. There truly is a delicacy due to our 
words and actions, but. Sir, is it not bad reasoning to infer from 
an unwillingness on our part to become a distinct people, an eternal 
obligation to remain connected under all circumstances and in all 
possible events, and to submit our estates, our liberties and lives 
to the will of Britain? When she governed us with justice, we 
wished to remain part of the empire ; when she altered her measures, 
we were no longer bound. I agree with you that reasons of state 
govern the nations of the earth, but I feel a delicacy which forbids 
my full assent to the sentiments you seem to convey, and have some 
doubt whether 'tis strictly righteous and honorable to violate the 



182 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

most solemn public engagements for reasons of state, and feel a 
delicacy which forbids my full assent to this sentiment which seems 
to meet the approbation of so worthy a character. But if this 
principle be admitted, there is an end of the first part of the ques- 
tion. The right of Britain on one side and the duty of the Colo- 
nists on the other, have nothing to do in the controversy nor in any 
engagements either of them have entered into of any consideration. 
But reasons of state, or, in other words, the interest of this 
Country, is only to be considered by us, and when we find it our 
interest, undoubtedly we shall accept the terms held out by the 
Commissioners. Whether Great Britain will live without us de- 
pends on events not yet known; that she will not at present choose 
to live without us, I fully believe, and I own freely, I do not wish 
to see Great Britain reduced so low as to become of small weight 
in the political scale of Europe. When she sees her true interest, 
this war will cease and that mutual intercourse again take place 
which was and will be the only source of wealth she ought to 
derive from us. 

I have no talent at prophecy, nor do I concern myself with future 
events further than doing my duty is connected with them. I 
know an almost unbounded field is open to conjecture, when we 
look forward and compare the probable events on each side which 
may take place before the conclusion of the war. On our part, 
the amount of the personal estate of Britain can have little con- 
sideration, when the whole amount little more than pays the annual 
interest of the national debt; when more than the whole personal 
estate of the kingdom must be annually called for in taxes to pay 
the interest of the debt and defray the charges of government at 
this time. This cannot be effected very many years without the aid 
of Foreign Powers. We have alone withstood the power of Britain; 
you have employed almost the whole force of the nation against us 
without a check from any European nation, and have not succeeded. 
A greater force was never employed out of the Kingdom by Great 
Britain since the Revolution than that which you have employed to 
subdue us, without effect, and that, when we, in point of numbers, 
military preparation and discipline, were far inferior to our present 
state. However the French nation may be considered by you, this 
is certain, our alliance with that nation and a consequent war in- 
creases your expenses and the necessity of a greater force in Europe 
than the Kingdom wanted when at peace. The subjects lost in 
this war, you say are not so great as the immigration would have 
been in a time of peace, and from thence you will infer a proper 
reason for continuing it. I believe the immigration would have 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 183 

been very numerous, and perhaps greater than your actual loss, but 
this is a total loss to yourselves and the world, the other only em- 
ploying that number of men in cultivating that country which was 
and will be the source of your wealth and the fountain of happiness 
to her inhabitants ; and when you see it your interest to share the 
profits of our commerce without the charges of sovereignty, to reap 
the fruits of our labor without the expense of protection, then, and 
not till then, will this war, which has so unhappily divided us, be 
ended. 

" What," you ask, " has the mighty fleet of France done to save 
us? Have they not fled before that fleet they boasted to annihilate?" 
They have engaged your fleet to watch their motions and, from an 
off"ensive war, have confined you to your garrisoned places, and 
have not fled before that fleet they boasted to annihilate. 'Tis true 
the skill of our able sea ofiicers, whose bravery and humanity are 
equally acknowledged and esteemed by us, has saved Rhode Island, 
but the misfortune of the French fleet arose, not from the courage 
of Britons or from Gallic cowardice, but the winds and the seas 
occasioned disasters in which both fleets were large sharers. In 
short, my friend, I fully believe we shall establish that inde- 
pendency we have been compelled to declare. I believe it the true 
interest of Britain to acknowledge it and stop the further eff"usion 
of blood. Neither does this event, in my opinion, rest on the consent 
of Britain or the assistance of France. Our internal resources are 
sufficient to continue this war as long as dan be necessary to attain 
the end, and we are better able to pay our national debt than 
Britain can ever be to discharge her own. We owe little but to our- 
selves, and can never be the poorer in paying it. A large share of 
your debt is due out of the nation and must impoverish you in the 
discharge of it. We have boundless tracts of uncultivated lands, 
a great source of wealth to our Nation. You are confined to an 
island already in a high state of cultivation and have little more 
to expect. We shall increase in number, wealth and vigor when 
you have already reached your zenith of power, and every man of 
candor acknowledges with concern that your sun is fast setting 
into comparative obscurity; and though you should continue in 
your full strength, you must still pass the Atlantic and wait your 
supplies from that distant country on every failure or misfortune 
here; and, although you have yet met no considerable disaster in 
the attempt, you cannot have reasonable assurances that your sup- 
plies of men, provisions, arms, money, &c., will always continue free 
from the accidents so often experienced on that uncertain element. 
You have the evidence of yourselves to convince you that a defeat 



184 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

to us proves but a stimulus to an immediate reinforcement, and, on 
every misfortune, we have doubled our numbers before you could 
avail yourselves of any important advantage; and I assure you on 
my honor, I believe the Country is, at this hour, as firmly deter- 
mined at all hazards to maintain the war, as they were in 1775. 

I wish myself to pursue another course of life. I entered the 
Army from principle and have continued to this hour from the same 
motive, but considerations foreign to the dispute induce me to wish 
to retire to private life. I am but an individual; the little share 
of influence I can claim, I hope to use in support of the rights of 
humanity and for the benefit of society. I am not an advocate of 
sanguinary measures, nor a supporter of sanguinary men. The 
period has not yet arrived in which the separating line ought to be 
made. Whatever my political opinions may be, I hope they will 
never erase the sentiments of personal friendship mutually imbibed 
in early life. 

A personal interview, if you choose, we can have at or near our 
lines on your obtaining a flag, in which I shall be very happy. In 
the meantime, accept the tender of every service I am capable of 
rendering you, and believe me, 

Your friend and obed't. servt., 
To Rev. William Walter. Saml. H. Parsons. 

June 3, 1778, General Parsons wrote, as follows, from Fort 
Arnold, one of the Posts in the Highlands, to his friend, 
Thomas Mumford, then at Hartford, in attendance on the 
legislature of which he was a member: — 

Fort Arnold, June S, 1778. 
Dear Sir. — Your favor by your nephew, I duly received. Am 
happy at all times to have it in my power to render you or your 
family any services as a just acknowledgement of the private bene- 
fits you have afforded me, as well as advantages my soldiers have 
derived from your benevolence. I am fully of opinion Major Bige- 
low should purchase the linen mentioned in your letter and have 
wrote him on the subject. I am unfortunate in not being able to 
procure moneys for him at present; but have sent him twenty 
thousand dollars in loan office tickets which I hope will answer as 
a substitute for money at present. Any sum he wants will be sup- 
plied in this way. I need not require your assistance to help him 
procure moneys if he wants on those certificates, as I know you 
are disposed to forward the service in every possible method. News 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 185 

we have so much and so uncertain, I shall not at present report any 
again. The internal political concerns of Government, though I 
am at present in another line, I feel myself a little interested in. 
What little news of this or any other kind you can afford me, will 
be agreeable. 

I am &c., 
To Thomas Mumford. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Fort Arnold, June 22, General Parsons wrote lo Governor 
Clinton : — 

Sir. — John Teller, Master of a Flag of Truce to New York, has 
returned to this Post, and contrary to his duty has brought a num- 
ber of prisoners from the city. I know nothing of the men or those 
who have come out, and cannot suffer them to remain here. I have 
ordered a guard on board the sloop with orders to deliver the men 
and passengers to your Excellency by whose permission the flag 
went down. 

July 24, Parsons reports to Washington as to the stock 
captured along the Hudson and near Kingsbridge. 

August 3, Parsons received from Colonel Malcom, whom he 
had left at West Point with his regiment to continue the work 
upon the defenses, a letter as full of enthusiasm for the place 
as was Parsons own letter of February, 22d, to Colonel 
Wadsworth : — 

West Point, August S, 1778. 

Dear General. — Here I am holding committee among spades 
and shovels. Why was I banished.^ However, I begin to be recon- 
ciled. I must be so, especially as you are not moving towards York; 
if you do, don't be surprised to see me parade among you. We are 
driving on downwards ; the more we do, the more we find we have 
to do. Why did you not begin to move the mountain, rather than 
add to its magnitude. Send me news and newspapers, anything to 
keep us alive; this is actually t'other end of the world. My com- 
pliments to liis Grace and my other good friends and acquaintances 
in your family. I often think with pleasure on the happiness of 
the past weeks we were together, but it adds to my vexation too. 

To General Parsons. 

Aaron Burr was the Lieut. Colonel of Malcom's regiment 



186 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

and should have been able to enliven the tedium of the camp had 
he then possessed the qualities he developed in after years. 

In the latter part of July, Parsons was ordered with his 
brigade to join Washington's army at White Plains, and it 
was not until June, 1779, that he resumed the command at 
West Point. After the camp at White Plains broke up, he 
went into winter quarters with his brigade at Redding in Con- 
necticut, and in February, 1779, was ordered to take com- 
mand of the District of New London and construct fortifica- 
tions for the defense of that place. 



CHAPTER XVI 

Treaty with France. Evacuation of Philadelphia. Army at 
White Plains. Arrival of D'Estaing. Camp at Fredericks- 
burgh. Parsons' Military Opinions. Camp at Redding. 

June. 1778— March, 1779 

On the 6th of February, 1778, the Independence of the United 
States was recognized by the King of France in a formal treaty 
which, among other things, provided that neither party should 
lay down arms until the Independence of the United States 
should be assured by Great Britain by its acknowledgment in 
a treaty at the termination of the war. The Congress of the 
United States ratified the French treaty on the 4th of May, 
and the Army at Valley Forge and the garrisons in the High- 
lands celebrated the event with the firing of cannon and shouts 
of " Long Live the King of France." On the 11th of May, Sir 
Henry Clinton took command of the British forces in Phila- 
delphia in place of Sir William Howe, who shortly afterwards 
returned to England. The English Army at this time con- 
sisted of about thirty-three thousand men, of which number, 
nineteen thousand five hundred were in Philadelphia, ten 
thousand four hundred in New York and the remainder in 
Rhode Island. The American Army did not exceed fifteen 
thousand men, of whom eleven thousand eight hundred were at 
Valley Forge. The British Ministry, hopeless of conquering 
America by civilized warfare, had given secret instructions to 
Clinton " to lay waste Virginia, to attack Providence, Boston 
and all accessible ports between New York and Nova-Scotia, 
destroying vessels, wharfs, stores and materials for ship-build- 
ing. At the same time, the Indians, from Detroit all along the 
frontiers of the West and South to Florida, wei'e to be hounded 
on to spread dismay and murder. No active operations at the 
North were expected except the devastation of towns on the 

187 



188 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

sea and raids of allied savages on the border." Clinton was 
also ordered to detach five thousand men for the conquest of 
the French island, St. Lucia, and to send three thousand more 
to Florida; to evacuate Philadelphia and concentrate the 
remainder of his army in New York, this last because of the 
French treaty and the knowledge that a squadron was fitting 
out to blockade the British fleet in the Delaware River; but it 
was not until the 18th of June that the evacuation actually 
took place. Learning of this movement, Washington imme- 
diately crossed the Delaware with his whole army, and threw 
forward detachments to harass and delay the enemy on their 
march. A general engagement ensued near Monmouth on the 
28th — one of the hottest days in the year — which resulted in a 
drawn battle ; but the Americans remained on the field with the 
intention of renewing the attack the next day, while Clinton 
withdrew during the night, having " gained no advantage 
except to reach New York with the wreck of his army." 
Washington did not follow, but, marching to New Brunswick, 
moved thence very leisurely to the North River, sparing the 
troops as much as possible, and crossed at King's Ferry. 

On the 24th, Parsons writes to his old friend Thomas Mum- 
ford at Groton, Connecticut, announcing the evacuation of 
Philadelphia and summing up in an ironical way the meager 
achievements of Great Britain : — 

West Point, June 2^, 1778. 
Sir. — By the time this reaches you, the evacuation of Philadelphia 
will be announced in the Gazette. The enemy took their departure 
the 18th at sunrising. We took possession the same day, and our 
army is now in Jersey, where 'tis probable they will by to-day be 
in close contact with Sir Harry's army. To the immortal honor of 
Great Britain, she has expended nearly thirty millions sterling, 
wasted her best blood, transported a greater army than ever before 
passed the Atlantic; in three campaigns conquered the capitals of 
five States ; fought ten battles, lost one army prisoners, another by 
death, and at the opening of the fourth campaign may perhaps 
secure one city strongly fortified sufficient to cover an army of twenty 
thousand men from immediate destruction ; a glory this, in which 
she will stand unrivalled in fame by any other nation in the annals 
of future ages. Important events will daily unfold which I will 
give you an account of as I shall have opportunity. General Gates 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 189 

assures me he will exchange your son as soon as a flag goes in. The 
money due you for the use of your vessel I have paid to your son. 
I shall be happy to hear from you when 'tis convenient. 

I am &c., 
To Thomas Mumford. g^^^^ jj Parsons. 

The entire force of the enemy, except a few troops at New- 
port, being encamped on " Long, Staten and York islands," 
and likely to move, if at all, either against the Posts in the 
Highlands or the Eastern States, Washington selected White 
Plains as the most eligible position at which to concentrate 
his army, whether for the purpose of attack or defense. 
Arriving there about the 20th of July with the main body of 
his army, he went into camp near Chatterton Hill and the old 
battle ground of 1776, where he was joined by all the Con- 
tinental regiments stationed at West Point and along the 
Hudson under Gates and Putnam. This was the largest force 
of regular troops brought together in a single encampment 
during the war, " a veritable Continental Line composed of all 
the Lines from New Hampshire to North Carolina, except 
that of New Jersey, which was then stationed in ,its own State." 
Li all, there were sixty regular regiments of infantry ; four 
battalions of artillery ; four regiments of cavalry and several 
corps of State troops. 

The following letter from General Parsons to his friend, 
Thomas Mumford, is interesting for its description of the 
camp : — 

White Plains, 27th July, 1778. 

Dear Sir. — The army is now united under the command of our 
General. I assure you t'would afford you great satisfaction to see 
them and compare their situation with that two years ago in this 
place; then an abject poor set of mortals flying before a victorious 
insolent enemy, now in turn driving to the Islands for shelter the 
armies of that haughty Prince who in the hour of victory breathed 
fire and smoke and would be satisfied with nothing short of uncon- 
ditional submission ; prostrate at the feet of the tyrant and his 
minister we were to wait for forgiveness and mercy; for wliat.^ 
Not for our crimes, but our virtues. This power has now bended 
the knee to the injured States and in terms of abject submission 
supplicate that subjection their arms cannot procure them; vain 
hopes. Bribery and every insidious art is now tried to eff'ect what 



190 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

their boasted strength has failed to procure; their measures are as 
weak as wicked; the power which rules by these insidious arts 
cannot enslave the brave and free. We daily insult the enemy in 
their lines. They are strengthening their works and now use the 
same precautions we were two years ago driven to; they have beat 
their spears into spades and pick-axes and their swords into bill- 
hooks. This is truly a marvellous change, and is to be ascribed to 
that just Being who directs all events to the best good of mankind. 
Shut up on a few Islands, dispirited and sickly, in danger of famine 
and unable to meet us in the field, we have nothing to do but wait 
in safety and with patience for their destruction which is hastening 
fast to overtake them. 

You will hear of the fleet of our allies before I shall, & will be 
able to give me the intelligence I am at present unable to furnish 
you. I can only say in general our aff'airs appear in a most pros- 
perous train. Amidst all our prosperity I feel the unhappiness 
resulting from parting with my most intimate friends & nearest 
connections; unexpectedly to me, I believe undesired and unthought 
of by all, I have lost two regiments with whom I was exceedingly 
happy, Webb's and Sherburne's, connected with the brigade by ten 
months happy union, at least on my part. I feel as much distressed 
as for the safety of a favorite child. I wish them honor and suc- 
cess. I am sure they will not disgrace any officer who leads them 
into action. JNIy compliments to Mrs. Mumford and family, par- 
ticularly to my young friend, your son, and accept my best wishes 
for your welfare. Yr. friend and obedt. servt., 

m rr^i 1,^01 Sam. H. Parsons. 

10 L nomas Mumford. 

On the 22d of July, Lafayette was ordered to march to 
Providence, Rhode Island, with Glover's and Varnum's 
brigades and Samuel B. Webb's and Sherburne's " additional 
regiments," which for the last ten months had been attached 
to Parsons' brigade, and report to Major General Sullivan, 
who was to command the expedition against the British in 
Newport. It is the loss of these two regiments from his 
brigade for which Parsons expresses so much regret in his 
letter to Mumford. 

Washington, writing from Camp White Plains, August 21, 
1778, to his friend, Brigadier General Nelson in Virginia, 
describes the situation in almost the same language as does 
General Parsons : — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 191 

It is not a little pleasing, nor less wonderful to contemplate, 
that after two years maneuvering, and undergoing the strangest 
vicissitudes that perhaps ever attended any one contest since the 
creation, both armies are brought back to the very point they set out 
from, and that the offending party, at the beginning, is now reduced 
to the use of the spade and pickaxe for defense. The hand of Provi- 
dence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse 
than an infidel who lacks faith, and more than wicked that has 
not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations. But it will 
be time enough for me to turn preacher when my present appoint- 
ment ceases; and therefore I shall add no more on the doctrine of 
Providence. 

While at this camp the two Connecticut brigades were 
organized as they subsequently stood until January 1, 1781. 
The First, commanded by Brigadier General Parsons, was com- 
posed of the Third, Fourth, Sixth and Eighth regiments, 
under Colonels, Wyllys, Durkee, Meigs and Russell. The 
Second, commanded by Brigadier General Huntington, was 
composed of the First, Second, Fifth and Seventh regiments 
under Colonels Starr, Butler, Bradley and Swift. 

On the 13th of July, 1778, Count D'Estaing arrived off 
Sandy Hook with twelve ships of the line and four frigates. 
This fleet was designed to co-operate with the Americans in 
any enterprise against the common enemy. No plan had, as 
yet, been adopted, but only two enterprises seemed to present 
themselves, an attack on New York or Rhode Island. The 
Count's first wish was to enter New York Bay and destroy all 
the British vessels lying in the harbor, but he was soon con- 
vinced by the unanimous testimony of experienced pilots and 
by actual soundings made under his personal supervision, that 
the channel was too shallow to admit his largest ships, at least 
without great difficulty and risk. Disappointed in his wish, 
on the 21st, he sailed for Newport, arriving off Point Judith 
on the 29th. The reinforcements under Lafayette not having 
arrived, the attack was necessarily delayed until the tenth of 
August, but unfortunately on the 9th, Lord Howe's fleet was 
seen off Point Judith standing towards the harbor. The next 
morning D'Estaing went out to meet him. A storm of extra- 
ordinary violence arose the following night scattering and 



192 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

seriously damaging both fleets. The French did not appear 
again until the 20th, when Greene and Lafayette went on board 
the flag ship and endeavored to persuade D'Estaing to again 
unite in an attack on the enemy, but without eff'ect. The 
whole fleet sailed from Rhode Island to Boston harbor to 
refit. Sullivan, in consequence, on the 28th, withdrew to the 
north part of the Island. Pursued by the enemy, a severe 
engagement took place the next day at Quaker Hill, in which 
the Americans held their ground until night, when they crossed 
to the main land. Webb's regiment, then in Lafayette's com- 
mand, was engaged in this battle, and by its steadiness and 
good conduct reflected great credit upon Parsons' brigade 
from which it had been detached. The failure of this enter- 
prise was most unfortunate, for, as Washington wrote his 
brother, John Augustine, on the 23d of September, " if the 
garrison at that place, consisting of nearly six thousand men, 
had been captured, as there was, in appearance at least, a 
hundred to one in favor of it, it would have given the finish- 
ing blow to British pretensions of sovereignty over this country, 
and would, I am persuaded, have hastened the departure of 
the troops in New York, as fast as their canvas wings could 
carry them away." 

August 11th, at a meeting of the Governor and Council of 
Connecticut, a letter from General Parsons, dated New Haven 
August 8th, stating that Washington was desirous to collect 
whale boats to transport one thousand men, &c., was considered, 
and the request contained in the letter, granted. 

On the 28th, Washington wrote Sullivan : — " I yesterday 
received information from Long Island that looks like a great 
and general move among the British army. The real intent I 
have not been able to learn." 

Camp White Plains, August 24, Parsons writes to his wife 
news just received from his son, William Walter: — "Billy 
is at Norwalk. He has been over on Long Island and behaved 
as a good soldier." While there, the boy, then only sixteen, 
had interviewed Colonel Webb and other prisoners, and 
brought home to his father valuable information in regard to 
the movements of Sir Henry .Clinton, his troops and his vessels, 
which the General, on the 29th, reported to Washington. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 193 

Writing September 23, to his brother, Washington con- 
fides to him his perplexity as to the intentions of the enemy: — 

What their present designs are, I know not. They are busily 
preparing, however, for something. Whether to operate against 
our Posts in the Highlands and this Army, whether for a remove 
eastwardly, and by a junction of their land and naval forces, to 
attempt the destruction of the French fleet at Boston and the re- 
possession of that town, or whether to leave us altogether for the 
purpose of reinforcing Canada, are matters yet to be determined. 
There are but two capital objects which the enemy can 
have in view, except the defeat and dispersion of this Army, and 
those are, the possession of the fortifications in the Highlands, by 
which means the communication between the eastern and southern 
States would be cut off, and the destruction of the French fleet at 
Boston. 

Unaware of the secret instructions to Clinton to send five 
thousand men to St. Lucia and three thousand to Florida, the 
knowledge of which would have explained the mystery of the 
unusual activity in New York, Washington, in September pro- 
ceeded to break up his camp at White Plains and dispose his 
troops so as to counteract most effectually what appeared to 
be the designs of the enemy. On the 11th, General Gates, who 
was to command at the eastward, marched with one division of 
the left Wing towards Danbury. On the 16th, the remainder 
of the army left White Plains pursuant to the following order 
from the Commander-in-Chief: — 

Headquarters^ White Plains^ Tuesday, September 15th, 1778. 
Parole: Dunkirk. Countersign: Dresden-Danbury. 
After Orders, September 15th, 1778. 

1st. The whole Army will march to-morrow morning at seven 
o'clock. The generale will beat at five; the troop at six and the 
march at seven precisely. 

2d. The baggage will precede the troops the first day. Pro- 
vision and forage wagons going in the front. 

3d. The Park of Artillery will march with the Second Line be- 
tween Parsons' and Clinton's brigades. 

4th. The Commander-in-Chief's baggage with the baggage of all 
the General Staff and Flying Hospital, are also to march with the 



194 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Second Line in the order which will be particularly pointed out by 
the Quartermaster-General. 

5th. The Quartermaster and Commissary-General will divide the 
stores in their respective departments to the several columns, which 
will lead the columns of baggage. 

6th. Col. Sheldon with all the cavalry on the east side of the 
North River will join General Scott. 

7th. The Quartermaster-General will give the particular order 
of march to be observed by each division. 

8th. The troops are to be furnished with three days bread. 

As appears by Washington's letter to the President of Con- 
gress, written from Fredericksburgh September 23, stating 
the position of the Army at that time, the right wing took 
position in the Highlands, the part under Putnam, composed 
of three Virginia brigades, encamping at Robinson's, opposite 
West Point, and the part under DeKalb, composed of the two 
Maryland brigades, at Fishkill Plains, about ten miles east 
of the village on the Sharon Road. This reinforcement, which 
made the force on the Hudson about equal to that of Clinton 
in New York, was thought to be sufficient to secure the com- 
munication across the river, the safety of which was partic- 
ularly important at this time, almost all our supplies of flour 
and a great part of our meat being drawn from the west side. 
The Second Line of the Army, composed of the two Con- 
necticut, one New York and two Pennsylvania brigades, under 
the command of General Lord Stirling, encamped in the 
Fredericksburgh Precinct (now included in the present towns 
of Patterson, Carmel and Kent in Putnam County), not far 
from the borders of Connecticut. In this Precinct Washing- 
ton established his Headquarters. The remaining division of 
the left wing joined Gates at Danbury, where now was 
encamped under his command the entire left wing of the 
Army, composed of one New Hampshire, one North Carolina 
and three Massachusetts brigades. 

October 16, upon his arrival at Fredericksburgh, Wash- 
ington held a Council, at which he submitted to the generals 
present, among them Parsons and Steuben, a series of ques- 
tions on which he desired their opinions. The following are 
the minutes of the Council: — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 195 

At a Council of War held at Fredericksburgh, Oct. 16, 1778. 

The Commander-in-Chief informs the Council that the enemy's 
whole force in these States continues in two principal divisions, one 
at New York and dependencies, consisting of about 13,000; the other 
at Rhode Island, consisting of 3000; that a considerable detach- 
ment from the former, sent three or four weeks since into Bergen 
County in the Jerseys, has hitherto been employed in a forage; 
part are said to have lately returned and the remainder, it is given 
out, intend to cut a quantity of wood before they leave the Jerseys ; 
that their fleet was still in the harbor of New York the 9th instant, 
and rumored to intend sailing shortly for Boston; that the general 
current intelligence from New York indicates preparations to be in 
readiness to leave that Port, and more particularly a design of 
making a considerable detachment generally supposed for the West 
Indies, the number mentioned from ten to fifteen regiments, which 
are reported to have been filled up by the reduction of some other 
regiments; that an ofiicer of ours, a prisoner with the enemy just 
exchanged, brings an account of the actual debarkation of a large 
body of troops on Saturday night and Sunday last, said to be des- 
tined southward, of which, however, no confirmation has been re- 
ceived from any quarter. 

That our whole force in this quarter is about rank and 

file fit for duty, including two brigades in the Jerseys and the gar- 
rison at West Point, a considerable part of which has completed 
and will soon complete the term of service for which they are 
engaged; that General Sullivan has under his command at Provi- 
dence about Continental and State. 

From this state of facts and under these circumstances, the Com- 
mander-in-Chief requests the opinion of the Council, whether it will 
be prudent and advisable to make a detachment of the main army 
towards Boston and of what force. 

He further informs the Council he has been impatiently waiting 
for the movements of the enemy to ascertain their intentions for the 
winter, in order to enable him to better judge of a proper disposi- 
tion of the Army in winter quarters, but the uncertainty in which 
their designs still continue involved, and the advanced season of the 
year, will no longer admit of delay in fixing upon a plan for tliis 
important purpose. He, therefore, requests the advice of the Council 
on the following points ; whether the army shall be held in a collected 
state during the winter and where; whether it shall be distributed 
into cantonments and in what particular manner; what precautions 
shall be adopted in either case to shelter the troops and procure sub- 
sistence and forage. 



k 



196 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

He observes, that in determining these questions, the considera- 
tions principally to be attended to are — the actual strength and 
situation and the probable designs of the enemy, the security, good 
government and discipline of the Army, the difficulties of subsistence 
and accommodation, the protection of the country, the support of 
our important Posts, the relations proper to be preserved with the 
French fleet, considering the degree of probability of its remaining 
where it now is, and of a winter operation against it, and the occa- 
sional succor it may desire from the troops under General Sullivan 
and from the militia of the country. 

The following is Parsons' opinion in full, in answer to the 
queries submitted to the Council, and also to other questions 
contained in letters to him from Washington, of October 14th 
and 15th. It was evidently well considered, not only from a 
military but from a political standpoint, and gives a favorable 
impression of the abilities of General Parsons, both as soldier 
and statesman: — 

Camp, October 17th, 1778. 

Sir. — The march of part of the troops towards Boston being 
determined, it only remains for me to give my opinion in what 
manner the Army shall be disposed during the winter, and how they 
are to be provided with forage and provisions. 

The security, good government and discipline of the troops will 
be best attained and promoted in a compact body, and bread will be 
easier supplied in a station near the North River than in any other 
position, and no other position will so effectually secure our impor- 
tant Posts near that River. Forage will be provided with greater 
ease and at less expense in a dispersed than a compact situation. I 
imagine the greater part of the meat consumed in the winter will be 
salted, the grass fed beef will soon be expended, and the stall fed 
beef will not be furnished in great quantities until near the close of 
the winter ; if this should be the case, the expense of carriage will be 
less in a dispersed than a united situation. 

On the whole I am of the opinion that about six or seven thousand 
men should be kept in a collected body at or near Fishkill, which, 
with the assistance of the militia, will be able to defend these passes 
against any force the enemy can bring against them before the whole 
army might again be united ; that about one thousand be posted in the 
garrison at West Point, about three thousand at or near the Clove on 
the west side Hudson's River, and the remainder, about two thou- 
sand, not far from Danbury or Ridgefield, or in that proportion 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 197 

should the army be more or less numerous after the first of January, 
by which time the term of service of many in the army expires. 
These Posts will be so far removed from the enemy as to be secure 
against any sudden attack of the enemy, and will enable them with 
safety to send off most of their horses and cattle. The guards for 
preserving the passage by King's Ferry to the Southern from the 
Eastern States may be furnished from Fishkill; and the intermediate 
guards necessary, from Danbury and the Clove. 

The Post at Danbury may furnish guards on the sea coast to pre- 
vent incursions of small parties of the enemy to desolate their towns 
or pillage their property, and although no protection can be afforded 
the towns on the sea coast sufficient to prevent their destruction by a 
large detachment of the enemy, yet a protection from the incursions 
of small parties will be a great relief to the inhabitants; and a body 
of troops stationed near the coasts may probably prevent the enemy 
from making those attempts which otherwise would be made. 

But a reason which has great weight in my mind, is the great dis- 
satisfaction which will be given the Country if this measure is not 
pursued. I cannot omit again expressing to your Excellency my 
fears that the present temper of the Country, the discontent and 
increasing uneasiness of the army, the depreciated state of our cur- 
rency and other causes not necessary to enumerate, afford the enemy 
a fair opportunity to plunge us into inextricable ruin and destruction. 
If these fears are justly grounded, great attention ought to be paid 
to the inclinations and wishes of the inhabitants of these States, as 
one mode of preventing those consequences which may follow from 
the present state of the Country. 

This disposition of the Army is sufficiently numerous in every 
part to keep up regular discipline, and in case of an attack may soon 
be supported; and will serve as a nucleus to which the militia will 
gather, and with whom they will be able to make an effectual opposi- 
tion to any detachment the enemy can send. 

I am &c., 

Saml. H. Parsons, 
To General Washington. Brigadier General. 

On the 16th, the following order was issued from Head- 
quarters at Fredericksburgh : — 

To-morrow being the anniversary of the surrender of General 
Burgoyne and his troops to the American Army under the command 
of General Gates, it will be commemorated by the firing of thirteen 
cannon from the Park of Artillery, at 12 o'clock. 



198 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The firing of the salute was followed by a grand parade and 
festival. 

Having received advices that the British fleet left Sandy 
Hook on the 19th and 20th of October, and apprehensive that 
its destination was Boston Harbor and D'Estaing's fleet, 
Washington directed General Gates, then at Danbury, to pro- 
ceed to Hartford and take command of three brigades which 
would be immediately sent to him at that place, and to go to 
Boston in case it should prove that the enemy's fleet had sailed 
in that direction. Fatigue parties were sent forward to 
repair the roads through Connecticut, that there might be no 
delay in the passage of the troops. On the 22d, General 
McDougall was ordered to march to Hartford with the three 
brigades composing his Division, and join General Gates. The 
following is the marching order issued to the Division, which, 
on the 19th, had been directed " to hold itself in readiness to 
march at a moments warning:" 

Headquarters, Fredericksburgh, Thursday, October 22, 1778. 

Parole, Rhode Island. Countersigns, Rupert; Rehobeth. 

Nixon's, Huntington's and Parsons' brigade are to march at seven 
o'clock to-morrow morning from the left, under the command of 
Major General ISIcDougall. The Quartermaster General will give 
the route. 

On the 25th, the Division reached New Milford in Litch- 
field County, Connecticut, where it was overtaken by directions 
to halt there until further orders, news having been received 
that the fleet which sailed from the Hook contained only the 
invaUds of the Army and a few passengers and supernumerary 
officers, and that the main fleet and the transports, on board 
which were the troops, were still in the Harbor ; upon which. 
General McDougall issued the following division order: — 

Camp, New Milford, October 26, 1778. 
" His Excellency, the Commander-in-Chief, has directed the 
troops to remain here until further orders, and be in readiness to 
march at the shortest notice as circumstances shall require. While 
the Division is reposed, two days bread will be on store continually- 
baked." 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 199 

In the meantime General Gates was sent to Boston to take 
command of the Eastern Department. Thus for four months 
was Washington kept guessing the intentions of Clinton, when, 
as it turned out, he had never entertained designs against 
either the French fleet or the Highlands, and that his force was 
so weakened by the detachment of nine thousand troops for 
foreign service, as to be incapable of any important operation. 
His only hostile movements during all this time, aside from for- 
aging expeditions into New Jersey, were General Grey's raid 
on the towns around Buzzard's Bay, when a large amount of 
property was destroyed in New Bedford, and Colonel Camp- 
bell's expedition into Georgia, resulting in the capture of 
Savannah. 

While McDougall's division was held in camp at " Second 
Hills, three miles from New Milford," being " in a disagreeable 
state of suspense, out of the route of the Post and every intel- 
ligence which can be relied on, and with no great society. 
Generals Parsons and Huntington not being with their brig- 
ades," General McDougall writes, November 5th, to Governor 
Clinton, expressing pretty freely his opinion of General 
Gates : 

General Gates I understand has gone to command at Boston. I 
know he was exceedingly impatient under command, and, from his 
known temper, I suspect he prefers being the first man of a village 
to the second in Rome. He has but little to do there; but the 
service will not suffer by his being at a Post of ease and security. I 
could hardly believe he was so extremely credulous as I found him 
to be. He is the most so in his profession of any man I ever knew 
who had seen so much service. He has the weakest mind to combine 
circumstances to form a judgement, of any man I ever knew of his 
plausible and specious appearance. In short, Sir, he is as weak as 
water. His whole fort lies in a little routine of detail of duty, and a 
perfect knowledge of the English corrupt Nobility. The Lord of 
Hosts have mercy on that army whose movements must depend on 
his combination of military demonstrations of an enemy. God avert 
so great a Judgement to America as his having the chief command 
of her armies. It's fortunate for America Gen. Burgoyne was so 
rash as to put himself in the position he did, and that there was no 
other route for him to Albany but the one he took, or he would not 
have been an American prisoner. 



200 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

This being McDougall's first experience with a Yankee Divi- 
sion on the march, he thinks the" Governor would have been as 
much entertained, as he was, by the sudden and surprising im- 
provement in their conduct, shown by the Connecticut troops 
upon reaching the Connecticut border. " They had been so 
wantonl}^ destructive of fences and other property on the 
march," he writes, " that I determined to end it and issued very 
expHcit and stringent orders for the purpose — orders which 
the officers in Huntington's brigade in conversation with me, 
with very grave faces observed, were exceedingly proper and 
necessary and must be obeyed; for they were now going among 
their own people who would think the Devil had got into the 
army if these prudent orders were violated. You may be sure 
I concurred with them and added, that I would personally have 
no trouble with the transgressors, but should turn them over to 
the civil authorities to be dealt with. The consequence has 
been that not a single panel of fence has been burned on the 
march or since we encamped. The truth is, they are much in 
awe of the civil authorities and fear for their reputation at 
home. Their countrymen would indeed conclude the Devil was 
in them if they had conducted as they have done in the army 
and in other places." 

While in Middletown, Connecticut, on leave for the purpose 
of attending to his private business. General Parsons writes to 
General Washington, as follows : 

Middletown, October 29th, 1778. 
Dear Sir. — ... I find my affairs will require my continu- 
ing in this State most of the ensuing winter. Since I hear nothing 
from Congress, I imagine my resignation is laid by with other papers. 
If any troops are quartered within this State, I shall be much obliged 
by your Excellency ordering my brigade for this purpose. I wish 
to be with the troops under my command, and, should they be quar- 
tered in this State, I could attend to the settlement of my own affairs 
without neglecting the duties of my office. I propose to be at Camp 
next week if the troops do not sooner move this way. 

I am &c.. 
To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

While on duty at Horseneck near the Sound during the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 201 

month of November, Parsons writes to General Washington 
the 16th, 19th and 23d. On the 16th he says:—" I am obliged 
to continue a few days longer on the sea coast before returning 
to camp. Small parties of the enemy exceedingly distress the 
inhabitants in this vicinity. If a brigade could be posted near 
the coast, it would be of great service. Fifteen hundred to two 
thousand men would be sufficient." He hopes to be in camp by 
the end of the week and asks to have his brigade quartered in 
or near this State. On the 19th he reports information brought 
by Captains Lockwood and Leavenworth from Long Island, and 
states that he expects information from spies in New York, 
which he reports in his letter of the 23d. 

In a letter to Congress, dated November 27, 1778, Washing- 
ton writes : — " I have the pleasure to inform Congress that the 
whole Army, one brigade and the light corps excepted, is now 
in motion to the places of the respective cantonments for winter 
quarters." Its disposition in the several quarters, he states in 
the same letter will be as follows: — 

Nine brigades will be stationed on the west side of Hudson's 
River, exclusive of the garrison at West Point; one of which, the 
North Carolina brigade, will be near Smith's Clove for the security 
of that pass and as a reinforcement to West Point in case of neces- 
sity; another, the Jersey brigade, will be at Elizabethtown to cover 
the lower part of New Jersey ; and the other seven, consisting of the 
Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania troops, will be at Middle- 
brook. Six brigades will be left on the east side of the River and at 
West Point; three of which (of the Massachusetts troops) will be 
stationed for the immediate defense of the Highlands; one at West 
Point in addition to the garrison already there; and the other two 
at Fishkill and the Continental Village. The three remaining bri- 
gades, composed of the New Hampshire and Connecticut troops and 
Hazen's regiment, will be posted in the vicinity of Danbury for the 
protection of the coimtry lying along the Sound, to cover our maga- 
zines on the Connecticut River, and to aid the Highlands in case of 
any serious movement of the enemy that way. General Putnam will 
command at Danbury, General McDougall in the Highlands and my 
own quarters will be in the Jerseys in the neighborhood of Middle- 
brook. 

The close of the fourth year of the war found the British 



202 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

practically prisoners on Rhode and New York Islands, their 
fleet furnishing them the only means of escape. The Ameri- 
cans, on the other hand, not only held what they had recovered 
from the enemy, but they had gained in military knowedge 
and experience and had more than doubled their strength and 
prestige by their alliance with France. 

November 13, General McDougall having obtained leave 
of absence for a few days, the command of the Division devolved 
temporarily on General Huntington, General Parsons not hav- 
ing yet returned to camp. On the 19th, pursuant to the fol- 
lowing order, the Division broke camp and marched under the 
command of General McDougall, to Danbury: — 

Camp Second Hill, November 18, 1778. 
The division marches to morrow (Thursday) for Danbury. The 
generale beats at four o'clock and the troop at five, when the march 
will begin. General Nixon's brigade goes by the new bridge through 
Newtown. Invalids are to be sent forward this day under careful 
officers. Parsons' brigade leads, marching by the right and advances 
a sufficient van-guard. Huntington's brigade furnishes a rear-guard 
under the command of a vigilant officer to pick up all stragglers. The 
wagons follow the brigade to which they belong. Each brigade will 
have a field officer or captain to superintend the order of march and 
correct all abuses on the spot. The Forage Masters, as soon as they 
have completed their duty on the old ground, will go forward and 
make provision. Provisions for the troops are to be drawn imme- 
diately and dressed for Thursday and Friday at least. All the 
guards are to carry their own packs. One sentinel to each baggage 
wagon is sufficient. 

The Division remained at Danbury until Sunday, the 22d, 
when, in obedience to the following order, Parsons' brigade, 
under the command of Colonel Samuel Wyllys, marched back 
to Fredericksburgh : — 

Camp near Danbury, November 21st, 1778. 
In consequence of orders received from Headquarters, General 
Parsons' brigade will march to-morrow morning at seven o'clock. No 
baggage will be carried except tents and cooking utensils ; the chests 
and other heavy baggage will be left under a proper guard at Mr. 
Starrs, as the brigade is likely to return in a few days. No straw 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 203 

will be burned on any account. The generale will beat at six o'clock, 
the troop at seven, when the march will begin. The commanding 
officers of regiments will see that no more tents are carried than suffi- 
cient to cover the men they march. Those men that are least able to 
march will be left behind as a baggage guard. 

The brigade camped for the night at Southeast Precinct 
in Putnam County, and on the 23d, reached Fredericksburgh, 
when the followino- brigade order was issued: — 

The commanding officer of the brigade directs the commanding 
officers of the regiments and companies, respectively to pay atten- 
tion to the men that they are comfortable in their tents ; that the rolls 
are called punctually and all the men accounted for. That no injury 
is done to the inhabitants by burning fences and carrying off hay 
without the knowledge of the Quartermaster. 

The apparent reason for this unexpected recall of Parsons' 
brigade, was the departure of the two Pennsylvania brigades 
for INIiddlebrook, pursuant to the following order, leaving only 
General James Clinton's brigade of New York troops in 
camp : — 

Headquarters, November 2Jfth, 1778. 

Parole, Nassau. Countersign, Natick, Needham. 

The Pennsylvania Line and Park of artillery will march to mor- 
row morning at nine o'clock, the stores and baggage of the Flying 
Hospital and General Staff to move with them. 

Washington must have left Fredericksburgh with these troops 
or very soon after, as the last order from Headquarters was 
dated November 27 and he arrived at Elizabethtown in New 
Jersey, December 3. 

The brigade seems to have had very little to occupy it during 
its stay at Fredericksburgh aside from a court-martial held 
the 28th for the trial of minor offenses. December 1, pur- 
suant to the brigade orders of the previous day, the brigade 
commenced its return march, " leaving the old General's and 
Commissary's Guard unrelieved, the new guard to remain on 
the ground until the troops and baggage have moved off, and 
then to follow in the rear to pick up the stragglers." Its 
camp the first night was at Southeast Precinct and the second 



204 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

at Danbury. On the third it reached its destination, the Httle 
town of Redding wliich had been selected for the winter quar- 
ters of the Division. About December 1, General Putnam 
relieved General McDougall, who thereupon went to Peekskill 
to take command in the Highlands. 

Early in November, General Putnam had fixed upon three 
sites for the proposed camps, one for each of the two Con- 
necticut brigades and one for Hazen's regiment and Poor's 
New Hampshire brigade. The site for Parsons' camp was 
well located on what was known as Redding Ridge and conven- 
ient both to wood and running water. The brigade orders of 
December 4, gave minute directions for laying out the camp : — 

The huts are to be built 14 by l6 between joints with logs 
' duftailed ' together ; the door towards the brook at one end and the 
chimney at the other ; the square of the hut must be six feet high at 
least before the roof comes on; the gable ends must be contracted 
until they come to a proper point; the ribs of the roof serving to 
form the roof proper for shingling. The huts to be built in two rows 
with eight feet distance between them, agreeable to our present mode 
of encamping. Col. Wyllys' regiment to occupy 28 rods in front; 
Col. Meigs' regiment 30; the other two regiments 15 rods each; the 
Quartermaster of each regiment must be particularly careful to see 
the ground properly staked out for each hut to be built on. The 
officer's huts of each regiment must be built in a regular line at about 
l6 feet distance from the rear line of the soldiers. The Quarter- 
masters of the several regiments of the brigade will run lines and 
mark trees between the grounds both in front and rear of their 
respective regiments, so as to secure the wood and timber properly 
belonging to each. An officer of each regiment must be appointed 
to superintend the hutting of the regiment to which he belongs. The 
brigade Quartermaster will make an equal distribution of tools and 
utensils necessary for hutting. Major Smith will superintend the 
hutting of the whole brigade and see that the foregoing order is par- 
ticularly attended to. 

General Parsons established his headquarters on Redding 
Ridge and, about the middle of the month, moved his family 
there to a house on the main road not far from the Episcopal 
Church. The location proved so satisfactory that he continued 
to reside there until December, 1781, when he removed to Mid- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 205 

dletown. December 17, by an order from Division Head- 
quarters, the following changes were made in Parsons' staff: — 

Quartermaster Balding of the First Connecticut Brigade, is 
appointed Quartermaster of Division and is to do that duty till 
further orders. 

David Humphreys Esq., late Brigade Major to General Parsons 
is appointed Aid-de-Camp to Major General Putnam till further 
orders and is to be regarded and obeyed as such. 

Captain Champion is to do the duty of Brigade Major to Briga- 
dier General Parsons till further orders and is to be obeyed accord- 
ingly. 

Lieut. Judson of the Eighth Connecticut Regiment, is appointed 
Quartermaster to General Parsons' brigade till further orders. 

Humphreys remained with General Putnam until the spring 
of 1780, when he served for a few weeks on General Greene's 
staff, and on the 23d of June was appointed Aid-de-Camp to 
General Washington. 

Redding, December 27, 1778, Parsons issued the following 
order to his brigade: — 

The General of the brigade informs the officers and soldiers that 
he has used every possible method to supply flour or bread to the 
brigade. Although a sufficiency of every article necessary is at Dan- 
bury, the weather has been so extreme that it is impossible for teams 
to pass to that place. Every measure is taken to supply flour, rum, 
salt and every necessary to morrow, at which time, if a quantity 
sufficient comes in, all past allowances shall be made up. The Gen- 
eral, therefore, desires for the honor of this corps and their own 
personal reputation, the soldiery, under the special circumstances 
caused by the severity of the season, will make themselves contented 
to that time. 

The brigade orders of the 29th, were: — 

The General desirous of contributing so far as in his power 
towards the happiness of his brigade, orders that half a pint of rum 
or brandy be delivered to each officer and soldier to morrow. 

On the 27th, Parsons wrote to General McDougall from 
.Camp Redding as follows : — 



206 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

In my last I had time to say little more than acknowledge the 
receipt of yours of the 21st inst. The flour for supplying the troops 
here is expected from North River, and no liberty has been 
granted for removing forage from the westward to this Post, but we 
procure our supplies eastward and southward. I suppose the forage 
in the country between us and Peekskill, especially near the roads, 
should not be removed, but remain to supply the travel. I hope I 
was not understood to fault the vigilance of your guards. I have 
never had any reason to call that in question. I have heard since 
mine of the pth, that the militia of New York are at North Castle; 
if their numbers are sufficient with a small guard at Bedford to 
guard the stores and those establishing at Round Hill and Horse- 
neck, they will be pretty good security for that part of the country. 
I have lately been to Sawpits and the vicinity. I believe our guard 
may be posted securely where they may send parties of observation 
to White Plains and on the East River road. 

I am concerned how we shall maintain our guards. Unless some 
new measures are adopted, the whole of the flour must be furnished 
from York State, and although Mr. Leak lives in the midst of a flour 
country at Bedford, by some unaccountable neglect he does not sup- 
ply flour even for the guard at Bedford, but he and others have, in 
a number of instances, seized the flour going to Horseneck, for the 
guards there. This must be prevented or our guards cannot be 
subsisted. 

Parsons further says that he believes he has trustworthy 
information that the enemy's intentions next campaign depend 
on the result of a sea engagement between the English and 
French fleets ; that, if successful, " they expect large reinforce- 
ments, and, unless we rescind our Independence, (which they 
expect,) will vigorously pursue their operations again." Pie 
also mentions that by a letter from New York, " he has the 
cantonments of the troops on that station," which are given 
here to show the minuteness and precision of the information 
obtained from spies in his employ: — 

Emmerick's corps on this side the Bridge; three regiments 
between that and Harlem; one at Harlem; three regiments in 
and near the city; one on Staten Island; a guard at Powle's 
Hook; one regiment at Brookland; one at Bedford; one at New- 
town; Col. Wurmb's Jagers at Flushing; grenadiers and light in- 
fantry, about twelve hundred, at Jamaica; Cathcart's Legion at 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 207 

Jericho; l6th Dragoons at Hempstead; Queens Rangers at Oyster 
Bay; a guard of about two hundred men at Lloyd's Neck, making 
in the whole about eight thousand men. 

At this time owing to the scarcity of flour in New England, 
it became necessary to draw largely from New York to feed 
the troops. To this the inhabitants of that State objected 
and constantly interposed obstacles to prevent its removal, 
which resulted in great distress to the men. In the following 
letter to Governor Clinton, General Parsons protests against 
this unpatriotic and unfriendly conduct of the people of his 
State :— 

Greenwich, January 2, 1779. 

Dear Sir. — I have this moment arrived here to give some orders 
respecting the guards in this quarter, and to my surprise, I find 
the Bedford Junto still refuses to suffer flour to come on to this 
Post. Are we to be sacrificed, or is there a fixed design to sacrifice 
the officers commanding in this division? The troops must be with- 
dra^vn unless some measures can be taken to furnish flour here with- 
out such constant interruptions as we have experienced in this 
quarter. I know your Excellency is incapable of being accessory 
to these jjurposes, but I believe there were never so many artifices 
made use of to render it impossible to keep our guards and do our 
dut}'. I beg your Excellency's interposition, and that such orders 
may be given as will prevent this evil. I received your Excellency's 
answer respecting Scudder. I believe him brave and thought him 
honest, but must beg your particular direction in this matter. 
To his Excellency, Yr. obedt, hum'le servt. 

Governor Clinton, Poughkeepsie. ^^^^^- ^- P-^^^soxXS. 

The following is from General Parsons to General Mc- 
Dougall : — 

HoRSENECK, January 5, 1779. 

Dear Sir. — I have ordered my guards to guard the road leading 
from King Street to White Plains and all avenues to the Sound. 
Some are advanced so far as Purchase Street and Rye. The patrol 
is ordered to Mamaroneck to morrow. I think we shall be obliged 
to withdraw our guards from there, however, for want of provis- 
ions. Many objections to the passing Continental flour through 
Bedford are made by the authorities. I am &c., 

m ^ J T*^ T-w 7. Saml. H. Parsoxs. 

i Uenerat McDougaU. 



208 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

When the troops went into winter quarters, they were in no 
very happy frame of mind. Badly fed, badly clothed, and, 
worse than all, unable to assist their impoverished families with 
the nearly worthless currency in which they were paid, they soon, 
with leisure to meditate on their wrongs, began to exhibit a 
mutinous spirit. Parsons was able to keep his own brigade 
quiet, but the Second, commanded by General Huntington, 
resolved to march to Hartford and in person demand a redress 
of grievances of the Legislature then in session. The brigade 
was already under arms and ready to march (Dec. 30, 1778) 
when Putnam rode down to their quarters, and, addressing them 
kindly but firmly, persuaded them to return to their duty. 

A week before this, General Parsons, ever solicitous for the 
health and comfort of his men and jealous for their rights, had 
written the following letter to General Washington respecting 
their sore need of proper clothing: — 

Camp Redding, December 23d, 1778, 
Dear Sir. — When I last conversed with your Excellency on the 
subject of clothing for my brigade, I received your assurances I 
should have my rateable proportion of the blankets, shirts, and 
other small clothing for my brigade according to a return then 
given in, since which time I have received no article of any kind. 
I am sure the great multiplicity of business in which your Excel- 
lency is engaged must have occasioned our misfortune in this matter, 
for I cannot persuade myself 'tis your Excellency's intention to 
deny us those supplies which we have the faith of the Continent 
pledged to deliver, and nothing, I believe, could have induced your 
Excellency to have given the order for the whole remaining quan- 
tity of blankets &c., without permitting my brigade to be served 
with any part, but your not recollecting the state of those troops. 
We did receive your Excellency's order to Major Bigelow to furnish 
coats, wescoats and breeches for the soldiers, and esteemed it a 
favor, but in this also we have been unfortunate, for so many other 
orders had been given as to take away so great a part of the cloth 
that the remainder proved very insufficient for the purpose. I have 
inclosed a return of the clothing received and wanting. I believe I 
have eight hundred men who are totally destitute, and many of 
them never had a blanket since their enlistment. The clothing has 
not yet arrived at Danbury and cannot proceed till the carting is 
better than at present, which leaves time to acquaint your Excel- 






GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 209 

lency with the effect of this order and to request directions that the 
five hundred remaining blankets may be detained for the use of my 
troops, and so many shirts and stockings as your Excellency shall 
find to be our part of the whole which has been furnished this year 
for the troops. I have not the least doubt of your Excellency's 
intentions to do equal justice among the troops; this justice we have 
not yet had. When other troops have received blankets nearly suffi- 
cient for them, we have not yet had one third part. If the blankets 
now ordered forward cannot be delivered to my troops, I beg your 
Excellency's directions to Major Bigelow to purchase a further 
quantity for that particular purpose, that we may at least have 
some distant prospect of receiving some benefit from the public 
promises so often made us. 

In the same letter he stated that cattle and forage in large 
quantities are taken to the enemy, and asked for explicit direc- 
tions as to seizing and destroying the same ; and further says, 
" I have herewith transmitted to your Excellency such intel- 
ligence as I have been able to procure from the gentleman 
I mentioned when last with you, and such accounts as I have 
received from other persons." It is evident from this that 
Washington knew the names of the persons from whom Par- 
sons at this time was obtaining information. 

In a letter dated January 8, 1779, Washington had com- 
plained to Putnam that General Parsons, in the foregoing 
letter of December 23, and charged injustice and partiality 
in his manner of supplying the troops. This letter Putnam 
showed to Parsons, who, thereupon, wrote as follows to General 
Washington : — 

Camp Redding, February 3, 1779. 
Dear General. — I am this day favored by General Putnam 
with a sight of your Excellency's letter to him of the 8th of Jan- 
uary. I am sorrj^ to find my intentions have been so much mistaken 
as to impress your Excellency with an opinion so very distant from 
my thoughts. I have reviewed my letter of the 23d of December, 
and cannot satisfy myself that anything like injustice or partiality 
in your Excellency's attention to the troops of the different States 
is in the most distant manner suggested. I am certain I never 
entertained a sentiment of the kind, and am fully persuaded that, 
however unfortunate the troops of my brigade have been in the arti- 
cle of clothing, they never had an idea their misfortune arose from 



210 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

any undue preference given to the troops of other States. I had 
your Excellency's order for 400 blankets for my brigade, which 
we received; another order for the same number was given, one 
hundred of which were for my brigade and 300 for General Hunt- 
ington's. These are all we have received from the Public and I 
believe were the full share we ought to have received at that time, 
very few having then arrived; and if 500 is the proportion my bri- 
gade ought to receive the whole, I am still contented. That they 
have not received the quantity of any one article of clothing 
promised by Congress is a fact, but I believe they are no more dis- 
contented than any other troops under their circumstances would 
have been. Their discontent has never shown itself in riots or 
mutinies ; they have complained and were almost naked, but have 
never shown an inclination to leave the service or commit any dis- 
orders in consequence. This has not been the case with other bri- 
gades. When they have complained, mine were quiet ; when they 
were guilty of riots and disorders, mine were silent and orderly in 
Camp. Under the circumstances I feel myself particularly unfor- 
tunate in being thought the author of disorders and tumults which 
have arisen in brigades with which I had no connection, and of 
promoting uneasiness in my own. I am conscious I do not justly 
deserve the imputation ; and no officer who has the honor to serve 
under your Excellency's command, has more exerted himself on 
every occasion to prevent disturbances of every kind in Camp ; but 
it has often been my misfortune to have been suspected of trans- 
actions I never thought of. I hope I may without oifense assiire 
your Excellency we have not had the necessary clothing the Conti- 
nent promised us. We do not — we never did — impute this to any 
partiality in your Excellency, but the order given on Major Bige- 
low for coats, wescoats and breeches for my brigade and for Gen- 
eral Huntington's, was at a time when the cloths had been taken 
from that store by the troops under General Gates' command, though 
then unknown to your Excellency and to me, and a sufficiency did 
not remain to complete their outside clothing. I know I then thought 
it a favor to receive the order, and it would have been so if the 
cloths had remained there, but no order was ever given upon Major 
Bigelow for anything but coats, wescoats and breeches. 

The First Regiment from Connecticut has been completed with 
outside clothing; the Fifth and Seventh have had cloth nearly 
sufficient for the purpose. This is not the case with my brigade, 
though I believe they now have cloth nearly sufficient for coats and 
a great proportion of their wescoats; of this they do not complain; 
of breeches or overalls they are very deficient; in shirts and stock- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 211 

ings they have very few. . . . Whatever opinions may be enter- 
tained of my conduct or intentions, I hope never justly to deserve 
your Excellency's displeasure. 

I am &c., 
To General Washington. g^^^^^ ^ Parsons. 

The gross inequality in the distribution of clothing which 
Parsons so justly complains of, and of which Washington 
quite as bitterly complains in his own letters, was due, as Wash- 
ington states, to the lack of an efficient head in the clothier's 
department, every deputy of which was apparently a law unto 
himself. But the cause back of all, and the cause of inost of 
the difficulties under which the country and the Army labored, 
was the incompetency of Congress whose business it was to prop- 
erly organize the several departments. At first, Congress was 
filled with the ablest men the country afforded, but of late this 
class had seemed to prefer employment in their own States, 
and had left the management of Continental affairs to inferior 
men. The letters of the public men of the period express great 
alarm at the situation. Washington, in a letter to his friend, 
Benjamin Harrison of Virginia, exclaims: "Where is Mason, 
Wythe, Jefferson, Nicholas, Pendleton, Nelson, and why do not 
you, as New York has done in the case of Mr. Jay, send an 
extra member or two for at least a certain limited time till 
the great business of the Nation is put on a respectable and 
stable establishment." Gouverneur Morris, denouncing Con- 
gress for its incompetency, declared that it had depreciated 
more rapidly than the currency. Alexander Hamilton, in a 
letter to Governor Clinton, says : — " There is a matter which 
often obtrudes itself on my mind and which requires the atten- 
tion of every person of sense and influence among us ; I mean 
the degeneracy of representation in the great Council of 
America. Many members of it are no doubt men in every 
respect fit for the trust, but this cannot be said of it as a 
body. Folly, caprice, a want of foresight, comprehension, 
and dignity characterize the general tenor of their actions. 
Their conduct with respect to the Army, especially, is feeble, 
indecisive, improvident, insomuch that we are reduced to a 
more terrible situation than you can conceive. They have not 
made that provision for officers which was requisite to interest 



212 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

them in the service They have disgusted the Army by whim- 
sical favoritism in their promotions and by an absurd prodigal- 
ity of rank to foreigners. America once had a representation 
that would do honor to any age or nation. The present falling 
off is very alarming and dangerous. What is the cause and 
how is it to be remedied?" 

The following general orders were issued by General Putnam 
from his Headquarters at Redding: — 

January 12, 1779. Complaints have been made that the inhabi- 
tants have suffered great injury by the loss of sheep, poultry and 
many other articles since the troops have been stationed at this 
place. The General cannot suppress his indignation that any of 
the soldiers under his command should be guilty of such wanton, 
scandalous conduct. Every precaution, he flatters himself, will be 
taken by the officers to put a stop to such licentious practices and to 
punish severely the authors of them. 

January 26, 1779. The General has received such information 
as induces him to believe it highly iDrobable the enemy will soon make 
an excursion into the country after cattle and other provisions ; he 
desires, therefore, that everything should be in readiness to make a 
sudden exertion to check their progress and frustrate their designs. 

January, 27, 1779. Should the enemy advance into the country, 
the signal for an alarm will be the discharging three pieces of artil- 
lery at a minutes distance, from the Second Connecticut Brigade, 
which will be answered in the same manner from General Poor's 
brigade &c. The Commissary will follow the brigade with the pro- 
visions and a sufficient quantity of spirits, that there may not be a 
moments delay, as everything will probably depend on the rapidity 
of the movement. 

The British having counterfeited certain issues of the Conti- 
nental currency, Congress was compelled to withdraw them from 
circulation. The following resolution of Congress in respect 
thereto was promulgated from Headquarters at Redding, Jan- 
uary 31, 1779:— 

Whereas it may happen that part of the moneys paid for the 
months of September, October & November to the officers and sol- 
diers of the United States for their pay and subsistence, may be of 
emission of the 20th of May, 1777 and 11th of April, 1778, 

Resolved, That in such case, the Paymaster General and Pay- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 213 

masters at respective departments, be directed to exchange moneys 
to the end that said officers and soldiers be not deprived of the same. 
The officers and sokliers of the army who are possessed of any bill 
of credit of Continental money of the emission above mentioned, 
are desired to carry them to the Paymaster General's office in order 
to have them exchanged for bills of other emissions which have not 
yet been counterfeited. 

Headquarters, February S, 1779. 
]\Iajor General Putnam has received information from his 
Excellency, Governor Trumbull, that an attack is soon expected 
from the enemy on the town of New London and the shipping in 
the harbor, and at his earnest request, orders a detachment to gar- 
rison that place till the militia can be ordered in, and as the ships 
are not fully manned, it is necessary that part of the detachment 
should be seamen to act on board in case the attempt should be made. 
The detachment to parade to morrow morning at 10 o'clock, near 
the orderly office with four days provisions (hard bread and pork) 
and thirty rounds per man. The Quartermaster will provide four 
days rum, which will be carried forward with the detachment. The 
Division Quartermaster will order two teams to attend the detach- 
ment to transport the camp kettles and officers light baggage. 

Courts-Martial were held at Headquarters by order of Gen- 
eral Putnam on the 4th and 6th of February, the minutes of 
which may be of interest as showing the manner of conducting 
these courts and executing their sentences during the Revo- 
lution : — 

Headquarters, February Jfth, 1779. — At a General Court Mar- 
tial of which Lt. Col. Reed is President, were tried the following 
persons : 

Edward Jones for going to and serving the enemy as a guide and 
coming out as a spy. Found guilty of each and every charge 
exhibited against him and sentenced by the Court to suffer death 
according to the laws and usage of nations. 

Benjamin Nobles of Capt. Lacey's Company, 5th Battalion, for 
deserting and persuading other soldiers to desert to the enemy; 
found guilty of deserting to the enemy and sentenced to receive one 
hundred lashes on his bare back. 

Asa Thayer, a soldier in the 8th Connecticut Battalion, for break- 
ing open the Quartermaster's stores in Danbury and feloniously 
taking from them a number of shoes ; found guilty of theft and sen- 



21 4< LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

tenced to receive one hundred lashes on his bare back well 
laid on. 

The General approves of the sentences of the Court against Ben- 
jamin Nobles and Asa Thayer and orders them to be put in execu- 
tion at the head of their respective Battalions to-morrow morning 
at troop beating. The sentence of the General Court Martial upon 
Edward Jones is ordered to be put in execution on Friday, the 12th 
inst., between the hours of ten and twelve o'clock, by hanging him 
by the neck till he is dead, dead, dead. 

Headquarters, February 6th, 1779. — At a General Court Mar- 
tial of which Lt. Col. Reed is President, were tried the following 
persons, viz : 

John Smith, soldier in the First Connecticut Battalion, for de- 
serting and attempting to go to the enemy; found guilty, and fur- 
ther persisting in saying he will go to the enemy if ever he has 
opportunity, sentenced to be shot to death. 

Sergeant Ebenezer Boyington of the Sixth Connecticut Bat- 
talion, for deserting; found guilty and sentenced to receive one 
hundred lashes on his bare back and to be reduced to the ranks and 
to pay to the sergeant that was sent after him the expense incurred 
by the same. 

Simon Mallery of the Sixth Connecticut, for stealing a horse and 
selling the same; found guilty and sentenced to receive sixty lashes 
on his naked back. 

Isaac More, soldier in Capt. Walker's company of artillery, for 
stealing $300; found guilty and sentenced to receive one hundred 
lashes on his naked back and to refund the $300. 

The General approves the above sentences and orders that upon 
John Smith to be put into execution on Tuesday, the l6th. inst. 
between the hours of ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon; and 
the sentences of the Court against Boyington, Mallery and More to 
be put into execution this evening in presence of the respective corps 
to which they belong. 

On the 11th, the execution of Jones was postponed to the 
16th, the day fixed for the execution of Smith. On Sunday, 
the 14th, a guard was ordered " to parade to conduct the two 
criminals to Redding Meeting House, where there will be a ser- 
mon preached. The General desires that the troops may 
appear clean and neat at the execution on Tuesday." On the 
15th, it was ordered that " the brigade parade to-morrow at 
nine o'clock, well dressed and equipped, to attend the execu- 



I 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 215 

tion of the prisoners under sentence of death." The execution 
took place on Gallows Hill, and the circumstances attending it, 
according to the account in the Connecticut Historical Collec- 
tions, were revolting in the extreme. 

The following brigade order, relating to the payment of the 
troops, was issued by General Parsons, February 9 : — - 

The Honorable, the General Assembly of the State, has, on the 
apjjlication of the officers of the Connecticut Line, in behalf of 
themselves and the soldiers under their command, been pleased to 
grant the sum of forty-five thousand pounds lawful money, to be 
paid out of the Treasury to the officers and soldiers serving in the 
infantry and artillery raised in Connecticut, by the first of April 
next, and have ordered a Committee to make an equal distribution 
of the same, that those who have not been entitled to supplies at 
former prices may have a proper consideration. 

This generous grant of the Assembly, made at a time when our 
fellow citizens are so greatly embarrassed, and when they are 
obliged to raise such heavy taxes to carry on the war, and to reduce 
the quantity of circulating money ought to give us the fullest con- 
fidence in the rectitude and justice of their intentions toward us. 
A greater sum is not in their power to pay at this time consistent 
with their engagements. 

The General further informs the brigade that he has received 
the fullest assurances from his Excellency, the Governor and the 
Council and the House of Representatives, that full and complete 
justice shall be done to the officers and soldiers of this State, and 
that measures for raising a sufficient sum for that purpose shall be 
taken as soon as circumstances of Government will possibly admit, 
to discharge this debt, which they consider as a debt of honor and 
in strict justice due to the Army. 

The General flatters himself that the Army will, by their faith- 
ful services, show themselves worthy of the attention of their coun- 
trymen, and convince the world that this instance of the care of the 
Assembly, produces in them the most grateful resentments and cor- 
dial reliance on their future justice towards them. 

Early in February, General Parsons was at Horseneck look- 
ing after the Coast Guard at that Post, the duties of which, 
on account of the proximity of the enemy, were more difficult 
and exacting than perhaps at any other Post on the Sound. 
On the 1 0th, a reinforcement of one hundred men was sent down 



216 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

from camp, and on the 17th, the whole guard was relieved by 
a fresh detachment two hundred strong. From this time on, 
the routine of the camp remained undisturbed, except that on 
the 26th, upon an alarm, which proved false, the two Con- 
necticut Brigades were ordered to march towards Wilton, and 
the next month, on a report that numbers of the enemy's ships 
were going up the Hudson, to hold themselves in readiness to 
march on the shortest notice. 

The following is the last brigade order issued by General 
Parsons before he was ordered to New London: — 

Brigade Orders, February 21, 1779. — Complaints having been 
made by some of the inhabitants that their fences have been thrown 
down by soldiers passing through their fields during the winter, and 
as the season is so far advanced as renders it necessary for the 
fields to be inclosed, especially those sowed with grain, it is ear- 
nestly recommended to all officers and soldiers who have occasion to 
cross any of the inhabitants enclosures, to be particularly careful 
not to injure the fences, but, on the contrary, if they should see any 
fence out of order by which means the grain might be endangered, 
they will be so neighborly as to rectify it, it being of the last im- 
portance that the fruits of the earth be preserved, both for the sub- 
sisting of the Army and the inhabitants. 



CHAPTER XVII 

Parsons in Command at New London. Correspondence with 
Washington and Greene. The Right of Private Warfare. 
Returns to Redding. Commands the Division. The March 
TO the Highlands. 

February — June, 1779 

The movements of the enemy on Long Island indicating an 
intention to attack New London and destroy the shipping in the 
harbor, a detachment of Continental troops had been sent there 
early in February to garrison the town until the militia could 
be called in. Appearances becoming more threatening, Gen- 
eral Parsons was ordered to proceed to New London, where he 
arrived about the 22d, and take command of the troops there 
and organize the defense of the place. The only Works guard- 
ing the approach from the sea, were Fort Griswold on the high 
ground at Groton opposite New London, and Fort Trumbull on 
the west side of the harbor, close to the water and below the 
town. These Forts and their surroundings. General Parsons 
made a careful examination of, and in the following letter to 
Governor Trumbull, submitted his observations as to their con- 
dition and tenableness in case of attack and as to the additional 
defensive Works necessary for the proper protection of the 
Post :— 

New London, February 27, 1779. 
Sir. — My command here having led me to a consideration of the 
measures necessary for the defense of this Post, I hope it will not 
be esteemed arrogant in me or a departure from the line of my duty 
to submit the following facts and observations to the consideration 
of your Excellency and Council by whom only measures can be 
ordered which are finally adjudged necessary for the security of 
this Town and Post. Fort Griswold, at Groton, is situated upon 
the height of the hill and is commanded by no ground within cannon 
shot, and, in conjunction with the battery near the water and one 
about southeast from tlie Fort (which are commanded by the Fort), 

21 T 



218 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

clears all the hollow grounds by which the enemy can approach 
near that Fort ; and, with the addition of a demi-bastion at the north- 
east corner, will be able to make a good resistance against any 
attempt to storm this Work, if a proper supply of ammunition and 
provisions are lodged in the Fort to furnish the garrison. Little 
more I think is necessary to complete the Works on that side and I 
do not at present see a necessity of any new ones. 

Fort Trumbull is commanded by a range of hills in the rear and 
on the riglit, which so overlook the Fort and within so small a dis- 
tance as to render it impossible to be held in its present state for 
one hour after the enemy have possessed the heights in the rear 
with artillery, besides which difficulty the ledges and detached high- 
lands behind this Fort afford a safe approach within almost pis- 
tol shot of the Fort, where large bodies of men may be safely 
lodged from any fire which can be made from the Fort; nor do I 
find it possible to secure this Work from attempts which may be 
made in either way without a cost which can scarcely be estimated. 
The walls of this Fort must be raised at least sixteen feet higher 
than at present to secure the men on the platforms from the ene- 
my's fire from the heights in the rear, and were the Fort of a pro- 
per construction, it must be raised much higher. Two or three 
sides of this Fort are enfiladed by no other part of the Work, and 
the enemy might rest perfectly secure under the very walls of the 
Fort. One or two bastions or demi-bastions must be made to remove 
this difficulty, and I think the work must now be laid in lime or it 
will not be secure from a fire from the hill, should it be raised. The 
walls at ijresent afford no security whatever to any men posted 
there, and it can now serve no other purpose than a water-battery 
against the ships. 

Upon examination, there does not appear any ground so advan- 
tageous as to give so manifest an advantage as to warrant a small 
body of men to attack a very superior force in their advance from 
the light house to town. On these considerations. Sir, I am con- 
vinced of the necessity of an inclosed Work on the hill near the 
house now occupied by J. Miller, Esq. This place so commands 
Fort Trumbull that no enemy can possibly hold that Fort whilst 
we are in possession of the hill. This principal Work with two 
small circular batteries under the command of the Work, will, I 
think, effectually prevent the advance of the enemy through any 
route they might otherwise take to possess this commanding height; 
and these Works can be completed with much less expense than 
Fort Trumbull can be made defensible, and answer better purposes 
than that can ever be made to answer. This Fort is well calculated 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 219 

for a water battery and may be well maintained as such, if the 
other Works are made. 

The objection generally made, and with great propriety, against 
multiplying Works and dividing our force, does not lie with con- 
siderable weight in this case, because the batteries will in that case 
require no more men than will work the guns, and they are effec- 
tually covered by the Fort which overlooks them all within point 
blank shot. I have inclosed a very imperfect draft which, how- 
ever, may in some measure assist your Excellency in considering 
the matter. 

I find fifty-eight pieces of cannon in the several Forts and bat- 
.teries, including those on travelling carriages, from three to eight- 
een pounders; these upon a medium, will require four pounds of 
powder at least for charging them. The number of rounds, Sir, 
which you will expect to be used, must be at the place where 'tis 
wanted or it can be of no service. This, at fifty rounds for each 
cannon, will be near six tons of powder; and I presume you will 
not be willing to yield the Forts without discharging nearly as 
many shots as this computation. Musket cartridges for one thou- 
sand men in both Forts (when the Work is built at New London), 
for five or six days ought to be lodged in the Forts and also pro- 
visions, because of the impossibility of supplying them when the 
Forts are invested. I suppose, on an average, one pound of powder 
will make about eighteen or twenty cartridges. Allow only sixty 
rounds for one thousand men, (and this, I think, must be considered 
a moderate computation for men in an invested Fort), this con- 
sumes one and a half tons more; that, besides a reserve to supply 
the deficiencies of a militia who come in with little or no ammuni- 
tion, is necessary for the artillery and musketry within the Forts. 
If these ideas should in any measure be adopted, will it not be 
necessary at this time when the season will admit beginning the Fort, 
to order in five or six hundred militia, and begin the work without 
delay. 

I have often found on alarms, the militia come in small parties 
and under no officers present and on that account are not able to 
form in any regular battalion, as they conceive an opinion that 
they are to serve with their own officers only. Cannot this be reme- 
died in part by assigning particular places of rendezvous on alarms 
for the regiments or parts of regiments, and they be immediately 
formed under such officers as happen to be present, whether of their 
own companies or others. The arranging and forming these troops 
after their arrival, in the face of the enemy, consumes much time 
and is attended with great danger. Proper beacons erected and 



220 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

signals agreed on to alarm the country on the approach of the 
enemy, will greatly expedite the march of the militia. 

I am &c., 
To Governor Trumbull. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Groton, March 1, 1779, General Parsons again Avrites to 
Governor Trumbull : — 

Sir. — By a letter received this afternoon, I find Sir William 
Erskine is again reinforced and that his present strength is twenty- 
five hundred men ; that a company of carpenters is sent from New 
York to Southampton and by every intelligence I am able to pro- 
cure, there remains very little doubt of the enemy's intention to 
visit the main; and by several accounts I imagine it probable they 
intend destroying this Post. As our continuance here is very uncer- 
tain, I cannot but think it necessary to furnish a number of the mili- 
tia as soon as possible that the necessary Works may be completed 
and some defense prepared. I could wish some gentlemen of the 
Council may be sent to determine on the necessary Works to be 
erected, that no time be lost in this matter. 

I am &c., 
To Governor Trumbull. Saml. H. Parsons. 

While at New London, General Parsons planned an expedi- 
tion to destroy the enemy's shipping up the Sound, in which he 
is aided by his old friend, Thomas Mumford of Groton, who, 
four years before, assisted him in raising men and money for 
the capture of Ticonderoga. Mr. Mumford was an agent of 
the Secret Committee of Congress and rendered valuable serv- 
ice to the Country thoughout the Avar. On the 28th, Parsons 
replies to a letter from Major Huntington, complaining of the 
delay in fitting out the privateer, " Confederacy," which he is 
anxious should be ready immediately. He states that he " has 
desired Mr. Mumford to supply the necessaries to fit the ship 
immediately. He is kind enough to give an order for rum, 
coffee, cordage, &c., and if cash is wanting, it will be supplied 
immediately upon application ; if wine is wanting, call on 
Colonel Rogers or Captain Mumford, with Mr. Mumford's 
desire for what you Avant." 

New London, March 12, 1779, General Parsons again Avrites 
Governor Trumbull: — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 221 

Sir. — The misfortune which has happened in the loss of the 
" Defense," seems again to throw embarrassments upon the pro- 
posed expedition. The " Confederacy " will be fitted by about Mon- 
day. That ship and the " Oliver Cromwell " are now our only 
dependence. To add to our disappointments, part of the detach- 
ment is ordered to march immediately, and one from General Poor's 
brigade to be ready to march, which probably will take place in a 
few days. The letter from General Putnam will inform your Ex- 
cellency of the cause of this movement. Under the circumstances, 
I am much at a loss whether to pursue the intended expedition and, 
if the " Confederacy " should be ready, go up the Sound and attempt 
the ships, if found practicable, or entirely give over the enterprise. 
If your Excellency will decide the matter, perhaps it may be of 
some benefit to the trade of the Sound for the ships to go up as far 
as Fairfield or Norwalk and attempt or not the ships at Huntington 
as they find their force to be greater of less. 

The recall of the troops from this place makes it necessary for 
me again to propose to your Excellency's consideration the imme- 
diate draft of militia for the defense of this Post. I am satisfied 
by a variety of intelligence from Long Island, that there is at least 
a probability of an attack here at a period not far distant, and 
should the militia not come in before my troops march, 'tis not 
unlikely the enemy's visit may be hastened. Your answer by the 
bearer will direct my conduct. 

I am &c., 
To Governor Trumbull. Saml. H. Parsons. 

New London, March 13, 1779, General Parsons writes advis- 
ing General Putnam of the failure of the proposed expedition 
up the Sound: — 

Dear General. — I received yours of yesterday. A fatality 
which is scarcely to be paralleled attends all our projects and blasts 
the fairest prospects. After forming measures to be executed with 
a force in the Sound which would have rendered our success almost 
certain, the Navy Board has countermanded one half the naval 
force, and, as though Heaven and Earth conspired to render our 
measures abortive, the " Defence " was lost on Goshen Reef two 
days ago and Mr. Shaw refuses to let his ships on the proposed 
expedition. This leaves us to rest the event on the " Confederacy," 
when ready, and the " Oliver Cromwell," which will render the 
success at least doubtful. Under these circumstances I must advise 
against any land attempt, as the safety of the party attacking will 



222 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

depend on the success of our ships; at most, I think, no more should 
be sent than will at all events be safe in their whale-boats. I have 
written the Governor, who has the direction of the naval force and 
expect a return to night, and also to hear again from the Navy 
Board. If I find that the ships left will not answer, I shall order 
Poor's brigade to march back without loss of time. Hazen's people 
will march to-morrow. I shall detain one express till morning. 

Yours &c 
To General Putnam. Saml. H. Parsons. 

The same day at 6 P. M., General Parsons advised Governor 
Trumbull of his orders to march : — 

Sir. — I think it is my duty to inform your Excellency that I have 
this moment received orders to march my detachment to Redding as 
soon as possible. As I shall doubtless march within two or three 
days, and no troops are in to relieve us, the Post must be left to the 
mercy of the enemy unless some measures are speedily taken for 
its defense. 

Yr. Obed's. Servt., 
To Governor Trumbull. Saml. H. Parsons. 

March 21, 1779, the following orders were given Colonel 
Hazen's regiment to march from the camp at Redding to 
Springfield, Mass : — 

Col. Hazen's regiment will march to Springfield in three divis- 
ions by the shortest route. The first division will march on Wednes- 
day next and the other two will follow on Thursday and Friday, 
weather permitting; in such case the detained portions will join 
the regiment in time. Col. Hazen will take with him one cannon 
and a proportionate number of artillerymen. 

On the 28th, Parsons wrote General Washington from New 
London, that a fleet of the enemy had been sighted; and again 
on the 29th, " I was last week on my return from this place to 
camp, but on receiving intelligence of the enemy's fleet moving 
towards this place, have returned. A fleet is now off Sag Har- 
bor with troops on board." 

The scouting vessels coming in reported that twenty sail had 
passed Hell Gate; that twenty-six sail were at anchor in Gardi- 
ner's Bay ; that a sixty-four and a fifty gun ship were coming 
around Montauk Point into the Sound and that Sir Henry Clin- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 223 

ton had left New York and was mustering a large force of 
troops at Southampton. The news created something of a 
panic. The alarm bells were rung, the militia called in and 
man}' of the inhabitants removed their families and effects ; 
but day after day passed and no attack was made. It was 
then ascertained that the transports had gone to Newport ; that 
the fleet in Gardiner's Bay was bound for New York ; that 
all was quiet at Southampton and that but few troops were on 
the north side of the Island. It is not a little singular, as events 
proved, that the unusual activity of the British which had 
caused the alarm, was not directed against New London, but 
was occasioned by a rumor confidently believed by the enemy, 
that General Parsons was at New London with a force of four 
thousand men making hasty but secret preparations for a 
descent on Long Island, in consequence of which Clinton had 
hastened from New York with a flying column to meet the 
expected invasion. Both sides were trying to dodge each other 
in the dark. 

In the spring of 1778, General Parsons was so much de- 
pressed by his failing health, annoyed by the failure to send the 
promised supplies to his suff'ering troops, and burdened with 
anxiety lest the depreciation in the currency and rise in prices 
should leave his young family without sufficient means of sup- 
port, that he determined to resign from the army. March 
11, 1779, he writes to John Jay, President of Congress, ten- 
dering his resignation. Congress not acting upon it, he again 
writes Mr. Jay on the 8th of April, repeating his request for 
a discharge and giving his reasons at length. He is willing, 
however, to continue in service if he can be provided for in the 
Marine Department, which will give him a better opportunity to 
attend to his family concerns and will be less injurious to his 
health. The reasons for his resignation he states as follows : — 

I have served in the army raised for the defense of our country 
since the 21st of April, 1775, in which I hoped to continue till peace 
should reward our labors, and, although I claim no merit from dis- 
tinguished military abilities, yet I feel a satisfaction in the con- 
sciousness of having invariably , and with honest intentions pursued 
the duties of the several offices with which I have been honored. 



224. LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

and discharged them with fidelity according to my abilities. But, 
Sir, I have a numerous family, and at the commencement of the 
war I turned my little all into moneys the better to enable me to 
continue in the service of my country and to do justice to my 
family. The unexpected rise of every necessary of life has de- 
feated my hopes and already exhausted too great a share of my 
small estate. The unavoidable fatigues of camp have greatly im- 
paired my constitution, and I find myself at an age of life in which 
I hoped for ease and domestic happiness in the enjoyment of my 
family in retirement from the cares and busy scenes of this world, 
with my health impaired, my constitution wrecked, my estate 
greatly impaired, so that a diligent attention to business is neces- 
sary to save a numerous family of young children in my old age, 
which I now find fast hastening upon me. For these reasons I am 
compelled to request a discharge from the offices with which Con- 
gress have honored me. I beg you to assure that Honorable Body 
my application does not arise from any discontent with the measures 
of Congress or my superior officers, nor from any alteration in my 
sentiments respecting the justice of our cause or the prosjoects of 
a favorable issue. I am fully convinced of the one and most 
ardently wish and believe the other, but to sacrifice my all at my 
age in life, to leave my children to the mercy of an unrelenting 
world, are considerations of too great importance to be lightly con- 
sidered by me, and from a full flow of health and spirits I feel 
myself so enfeebled as to leave me no hopes of being able to endure 
the fatigues of another campaign. Could I continue to serve my 
country in any way in which my health might be preserved and 
the interests of my family in any degree secured, I shall be happy 
to devote the little remainder of my days to promote her good and 
secure the rights of an independent people. ... I have 
not a wish that my particular case may induce Congress from 
motives of compassion to adopt measures not founded on principles 
which tend to promote the best good of the United States. I had 
better be jDassed over in silence that my country may be saved, 
than be preserved on principles which will destroy her even at a 
late hour. 

Notwithstanding the promises made him, Parsons' brigade 
had not yet received the necessary clothing. This neglect he 
attributed to the misrepresentations of parties unfriendly to 
himself, which so influenced the General-in-Chief that he failed 
to give due credit to his reports as to the wants of his troops. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 225 

This apparent lack of confidence was naturally very disturbing 
to a high spirited man like Parsons. Not willing that his men 
should suffer on his account, and believing that another might 
obtain for them what he had been unable to secure, he found in 
this an additional reason for resigning from the army. In the 
two following letters he states to his friend, General Greene, 
the difficulties under which he labors and asks him what course 
he would advise in the situation in which he is placed. 

New London, March 12, 1779. 
]\Iy dear General. — I believe you my friend and fully unfold 
my situation that you may see my embarrassments and direct me in 
my measures. No man ever entertained a higher opinion of the 
rectitude of the General's intentions than I have and still do, but 
unfortunately I have fallen under his displeasure. I have enclosed 
a copy of the letters I have wrote the General, by which you will 
see my situation and the causes of it. I have enclosed my resigna- 
tion in a letter to the President. The grounds which induce me to 
this measure are that I am persuaded I do not possess the confi- 
dence of the General necessary to do justice to those under my com- 
mand or secure my own personal honor. . . . If you find my 
opinion justly founded and that I no longer share the General's 
friendship, I beg you to forward my letter to Congress, for I 
cannot serve with justice to my command or honor to myself whilst 
I am under the frowns of the worthiest character which has graced 
the page of history. I am &c., 

To Maj. General Greene. S^**^' ^- Persons. 

General Greene in his reply to Parsons' letter, having appar- 
ently satisfied him that he was in error in supposing the 
intentions and feelings of the General-in-Chief were unfavorable 
or unfriendl}^ to him. General Parsons, who had now returned 
to Redding, again writes, April 11, 1779, explaining more fully 
the difficulties he had met with : — 

" I have," he says, " not a wish nor a most distant suspicion, that 
his Excellency should, or has, intentionally given any undue prefer- 
ence to any troops under his command, but am persuaded his in- 
tentions are upright and disinterested. I fully and heartily acquit 
him from all blame, . . . but tho' I acquit him, I am still as 
unfortunate as if my misfortunes arose from a conduct of his Ex- 
cellencv which had worse motives for its basis. I am not believed 



226 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

when I assert facts; the officers and soldiers under my command 
suffer exceedingly from this opinion of me, and every injury they 
suffer from this opinion is in part to be attributed to me. I con- 
tinue in service under these circumstances. . . . The Con- 
necticut troops complained, they were naked, they had neither 
blankets nor shirts, nor breeches ; the weather was severe, exceed- 
ingly so; they had no covering and little clothing. In the Second 
Brigade it proceeded greater lengths than in mine; they mutined, 
mine were quieted. I have left no measures untried to calm their 
minds and relieve their wants. I wrote to his Excellency on the 
subject. (Dec. 23, 1779.) He gave me no answer, but in a letter 
to General Putnam . . . intimates it is fully in my power to 
prevent disturbances which arise from want of clothing were I 
inclined to do it. . . . This I endured with as much patience 
as I could, and though I knew him mistaken, I could not entertain 
the idea that he would intentionally make distinctions among the 
troops ; but soon after there came an order to clothe the Second 
Regiment, and, as I am informed, a similar one for the whole of 
the Second Brigade. (Huntington's.) . . . This confirmed 
me in a belief his Excellency had by misrepresentations been in- 
duced to believe that there was no credit due to the facts I had so 
often stated to him respecting my troops, and that I was rather 
inclined to make difficulties than heal them, for I do not now believe, 
he ever intended in the most distant manner to do us an injustice, 
and yet we have and do suffer in a great degree beyond any other 
troops under his command. Under these circumstances 'tis impossi- 
ble for me to apply for anything my brigade are in want of. We 
have and do suffer and I cannot ask for redress. If these facts 
warrant my conclusion, I am justified in thinking it injurious to 
my officers and soldiers and dishonorary to myself to continue in 
command. I will never on this ground forsake the cause of my 
country nor will this and much more induce an opinion in me dis- 
honorable to his upright intentions in every part of his conduct. 
Another man may procure that justice to my troops which I most 
certainly should have had if any credit had been given to my 
representations . 

In closing he adds these sympathetic words for General 
Putnam : — 

" I believe General Putnam has been abused. I have the same 
sentiments of the man which I believe you entertain, and however 
well it might be for him to retire from his public station at this 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 227 

time, it must affect in the most sensible manner a feeling mind to 
see the measures taken to remove from office one who has been a 
faithful servant and has grown old in honest endeavors to do his 
country good; and the means used to induce him to relinquish his 
place are such as renders it impossible for him to retire with honor, 
and who can wish disgrace to attend him in his last days. I confess 
I think when the public have no longer occasion for the exertion 
of any of their servants, it requires no great skill to dismiss them 
in a manner which would not wound the feelings of a good man. 

I am &c., 
To Maj. General Greene. Saml. H. Parsons." 

On the S-ith, General Greene himself, disgusted with the dila- 
toriness of Congress and its apparent disinclination to second 
his views and efforts to put the Quartermaster's Department on 
a business basis, wrote Washington asking leave to resign. 

April 6, 1779, General Parsons writes from the camp at 
Redding, to which he had returned from New London, advising 
Governor Trumbull of the reports from Long Island: — , 

Sir. — By several gentlemen who left Long Island last Saturday, 
I am informed that General Clinton has returned to New York. 
A small reinforcement has arrived there. The " Renown " is at 
Huntington, where I suppose she is to be stationed. They also 
inform that the strength on the east end of the Island is about 
2300 men; that there appears no preparations for leaving that 
Post, but the moving baggage down the Island (which is still con- 
tinued), indicates the contrary; that from every fact and informa- 
tion they have been able to procure, they have not the least doubt of 
their having been a design to attack New London or to have made 
descents on some part of the coast of this State, but the loss of so 
great a part of their fleet and intelligence of the country being 
alarmed and the guards reinforced, have suspended their operations 
for the present; that they still continue building their flat-boats at 
or near Southampton. ... I think it my duty to submit this 
information to your Excellency's consideration that just measures 
may be pursued to preserve the coast from ravage and destruction, 
as may be thought necessary vmder present appearances. I suppose 
it wiW not be consistent with the orders of his Excellency, General 
Washington, to send any further detachments to New London, and 
those at New Haven I shall within a few days order to their former 
stations. If guards are necessary to be kept on the coast the ensuing 



228 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

summer, I apprehend Government will give the necessary orders 
to procure them, as there cannot be the least probability of any of 
the Continental troops being spared for that purpose. 

I am &c., 
To Governor Triimhull. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Camp Redding, April 8, 1779, General Parsons advises 
Washington of intelligence just received b}^ him from Long 
Island : — 

Sir. — I received a letter yesterday of which the following is an 
extract: " This moment Lieut. Tiffany returned from Long Island, 
who informs me that a body of Hessians are marching from the 
westward, but were not so far up the Island as Huntington ; that 
officer's baggage every day is transporting towards the eastward; 
that the militia of the two western counties are to assemble this 
week at Hemjostead and that a provision fleet has lately arrived; 
that the Tory refugees and others, are forming an expedition against 
Norwalk which will be put in execution within ten days." 

All accounts from Long Island agree that baggage and pro- 
visions are passing to the eastward of the Island, that the building 
of flat-boats there is continued and in general that there are no 
appearances of the enemy quitting that Post. The number of 
foreign troops marching from the westward I have not heard, but 
'tis said the numbers are very considerable and that General 
Knyphausen commands them. 

Whatever orders I may receive on this or any other occasion I 
shall put in immediate execution. In case of a descent on the coast 
of this State at a remote distance from this Camp, I shall not con- 
sider myself at liberty to march the troops from this Camp without 
your Excellency's particular directions, which I shall be happy to 
receive if you are of opinion they should be employed that way. 

I am &c.. 
To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

General Parsons at this time was temporarily in command 
of the Connecticut Division, Putnam being absent in the eastern 
part of the State. On the 12th he wrote to General INIc- 
Dougall, then at West Point, cautioning him against an 
application to be made to him for the release of one, Cornelius 
Reed of Saybrook, as " he is a person reputed unfriendly to the 
liberties of the country, and that Major Hart, whose honor 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 229 

cannot be doubted, has given me notice that a number of men 
whose names are affixed to a certificate of Reed's being friendly, 
are themselves professed enemies to the independence of the 
country." On the 16th, Parsons reports to Washington in- 
telligence received by him as to the movements of the enemy on 
Long Island, and says that many of the officers of this Division 
are applying for discharges and that he is at a loss whether he 
has the power to grant a discharge to any officer and asks his 
direction about the matter. On Saturday, the 17th, Parsons 
issued the following order from Headquarters at Redding: — 

Tlie Rev. Dr. Evans will perform Divine Service at the Meet- 
ing House in Redding to-morrow. Service is to begin at 2 o'clock, 
p. M. The General desires the officers and soldiers to give their 
attendance as generally as possible. The First Brigade is to parade 
at one o'clock on the Brigade Parade, and march from thence to 
the Meeting House. 

On the 22d of April, General Parsons issued the following 
brigade order from Headquarters at Redding: 

In consequence of orders received from his Excellency, General 
Washington, this brigade is ordered and directed immediately to 
set about putting themselves in perfect readiness to march in a short 
time. The officers are directed to disencumber themselves of all 
heavy baggage, as they will be allowed only to carry such as is 
indispensably necessary. The officers of every department will pay 
the strictest attention to these orders and exert their utmost en- 
deavors to have everything in the greatest readiness that there may 
be no delay if marching orders should suddenly be given. Exact 
returns are to be immediately made of the arms and accouterments 
wanting in the brigade, that orders may be given for a supply. 
It is now a season of the year in which the troops may 
with conveniency be attended upon. The troops, therefore, in camp 
and not on duty, will for the future exercise from five to seven 
o'clock in the morning and from four to six o'clock in the afternoon 
daily. The adjutants of the several regiments will have their men 
on the brigade parade punctually at the time. The Brigade In- 
spector will then take charge of them and pursue the established 
principles of exercise for the Army, and direct the necessary 
maneuvers. As there is but a small number of men in Camp at 
present, the Brigade Major will detail officers for the exercise, not 
less than eleven to one regiment, for exercise when to be had. As 



230 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

there may be some new recruits or awkward men in the regiments, 
such are to be enrolled by themselves and put under the instruction 
of some active sergeant, if under twelve in number; if over, under 
some subaltern officer. 

On the 23d of April, Parsons writes General Washington 
acknowledging his letters of the 12th, 17th and 19th instant, 
and says that in consequence of his direction to put his Division 
in readiness to march by May 10, he has ordered in the 
detachments at New London and other points remote from 
camp, and hopes nothing will prevent his troops being ready 
by the time named. He advises him that the enemy con- 
tinues part of the time at the east end of Long Island, but seems 
to be preparing to march towards New York, and then goes 
on to say: — 

I have reasons which have great weight to induce me to decline 
any command in the Army in the ensuing campaign, but the situa- 
tion of the troops is such that I am apprehensive ill effects will 
follow my resignation at this particular time. I shall continue in 
my command until the season is so far advanced that my example 
can have no influence to induce my officers to decline a service which 
too many of them already wish to be freed from, as I am determined 
my country shall never justly accuse me of injuring her rights or 
pursuing measures tending to her destruction. I hope, therefore, 
if I should at a more advanced season of the campaign seek a dis- 
mission, I shall not on that account be esteemed more criminal than 
by pursuing my intentions at an earlier period. 

On the 24th, General Parsons wrote General Gold Selleck 
Silliman, commanding the Fairfield County Brigade — the 
Fourth Brigade of militia — notifying him of his intention to 
call in all the Coast Guards : — 

Dear Sir. — I think it my duty to inform you that I have re- 
ceived such orders as will oblige me to call in all the guards I have 
established on the coast by about the first of May; in the meantime 
you will be able to pursue such measures for the security of Horse- 
neck and the coast as you think necessary. I have added the names 
of the prisoners of war in my custody, as I expect we shall soon 
be called from this place. I cannot long detain them. 

I am &c.. 
To Brigadier General Silliman. Saml. H. Parsons. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 231 

Redding, April 25, 1779, General Parsons writes General 
Washington as follows: — 

Dear General. — Your Excellency's letter of the 23d instant 
with the intelligence from General Maxwell came to hand this after- 
noon. I have received information that about the 22d instant, a 
large number of empty wagons came up to Fort Washington; that 
the enemy, for about a fortnight past, have prohibited all passing 
over King's Bridge, and observe the greatest secresy in their trans- 
actions at the Post. The accounts we have of the removal of cannon 
to and the throwing up of Works on Long Island and at the Nar- 
rows, are facts more likely to be ascertained from Jersey than here. 
The inclosed letters will show their state in respect to forage and 
some other matters. If the enemy are not coming out in force up 
North or East River, (which a few days will determine), and if 
they are fortifying at the Narrows, jDcrhaps the wagons may be 
designed to remove stores from their outposts to contract their lines 
and render their defense more perfect with few men, especially if, 
as I am informed from Long Island, the baggage of the Rhode 
Island troops is sent from New York to that place; this does not 
look like their joining the troops in New York. In consequence of 
the orders of the 17th, I ordered the artillery and baggage horses, 
(which were sent a distance from Camp) to be in by the tenth of 
May. By your directions to be ready to march on or before that 
time, I shall send for them to be brought immediately to Camp, and 
shall also hasten the march of the troops from the commands at a 
considerable distance from this place. It will also be necessary to 
comply with your orders, to call in all the Coast Guard, which I 
shall do this week. I have given orders to the Quartermaster to 
remove all stores from Danbury to Fishkill, which cannot be left 
without a guard. 

I have no returns of General Poor's brigade, but am sure the 
invalids, baggage guard, artificers, &c., left here could not exceed 
fifty; their baggage could not march till their horses arrived, which 
were at the distance of one hundred and twenty miles. I imagine 
your Excellency did not recollect that Colonel Hazen's regiment, 
which was, I suppose, a third of that brigade, had gone another 
way, and that the furloughed men on re-enlisting and otherways, 
will nearly account for the brigade; but I have ordered every man 
to march immediately. I believe there are not more than fifteen 
here. 

I shall strictly comply with your Excellency's orders communi- 
cated in your last letter, and hope the movements of the Army 



232- LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

which depend on the readiness of this division to march, will not be 
disconcerted by any delay on our part. 

The returns of arms and accouterments necessary to enable us 
to take the field have been made and are now again inclosed, which, 
according to your Excellency's directions, we are to expect from 
Springfield in consequence of an order you will forward for the 
purpose. 

I herewith transmit your Excellency the report of the Court 
Martial on the trial of Lt. Col. Holdridge. As we are soon to take 
the field, I would request your Excellency's early attention to the 
case that, if the report is satisfactory, he may again take his com- 
mand in the regiment. 

The other report in the case of Gray, I can only say that two 
sons of the family have died in our service, and there appears some 
reason to suppose he was coming in on your Excellency's proclama- 
tion of pardon. I suppose if he is pardoned, the payment of the 
horse &c. may be secured. 

If I continue in my command this campaign, I have Colonel 
Webb's request that his regiment may again be annexed to my 
brigade, if it can consist with the public good. I shall esteem it a 
particular favor to have that regiment annexed to my brigade, but 
cannot wish the public interest should give place to my attachment 
to particular regiments or corps. 

I am &c.. 
To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

The same day General Parsons wrote to General McDougall 
as to the detachment in Harrison's Purchase: — 

Camp Reading, April 25, 1779. 

Sir. — I have ordered all of Poor's brigade remaining here to join 
you immediately. I believe there are not twenty in this Camp. 

His Excellency's orders make it necessary to call in my out 
guards sooner than I intended when I wrote to you yesterday. The 
orders I now have are to be ready to march by or before the 10th 
of May, and to hold one brigade in readiness to march immediately 
on news of the enemy's embarking. This cannot be complied with 
if the command in Harrison's Purchase is continued; I shall, there- 
fore, order them to join the division this week, unless you suppose 
they can be continued there and the spirit of the order be complied 
with. ... I am &c., 

Saml. H. Parsons. 
To General McDougall. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS . 233 

Detachments from Parsons' Division were doing duty as coast 
guards all along the Sound from New London to Greenwich. 
In compliance with Washington's orders, Parsons had already 
issued marching orders to Lt. Col. Johnson at New London and 
to Colonel Wyllys at New Haven, and was now calling in his 
less remote outposts. On the 26th, he wrote to Colonel Swift : — 

Dear Sir. — The orders I yesterday received from his Excellency 
cannot be complied with if the detachment under your command 
continues any longer on their present station, but removing im- 
mediately may put the inhabitants into a state of too great hazard 
before they can be in any way prepared to oppose small parties of 
the enemy. You will, therefore, on receipt of this, march with 
that part of the detachment belonging to the Second Brigade to 
this Post, and remove the remaining part of the detachment to 
Horseneck or such other place as, on consultation with Colonel 
Grosvenor, shall be thought best to give such protection to the in- 
habitants as will consist with a reasonable safety to themselves. I 
wish you to inform Colonel Mead and also the officer commanding 
the detachment from General McDougall's division of your orders, 
and that the remainder of the detachment will be called in as soon 
as Sunday next, that they may take such measures as their pru- 
dence shall direct in consequence of these orders. 

I am &c.. 
To Colonel Swift. Saml. H. Parsons. 

May 2d, General Parsons wrote to Colonel Grosvenor that 

General McDougall had ordered Greaton's regiment to the lines 
to take the place of my troops. On their arrival, you will immedi- 
ately repair to Camp with the guards under your command. You 
will also order the guards at Greenwich and at Stamford to leave 
those Posts and join their regiment; at the same time, if that regi- 
ment does not arrive before Tuesday next, you are not to continue 
longer on that Post. You will take the most effectual care that no 
stragglers are left on the road and that all soldiers which fall 
within your knowledge, join the Army. 

General Parsons writing to General McDougall from his 
Headquarters at Redding on the 30th of April, says : — 

My orders from his Excellency do not point out the place to 
which this division is to march, but that it be held in the most per- 
fect readiness to march by or before the 10th of May; and that 1 



234 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

cause the brigades under my command to march immediately to the 
support of the Posts in the Highlands if I shall receive information 
of the enemy's embarking troops, or shall be called on by General 
McDougall in case the knowledge of this circumstance comes first 
to him. The First Brigade having as a brigade been on duty since 
both have been in Division, I have ordered the Second Brigade to 
hold itself in readiness to march on the shortest notice. You see 
by these orders, the march of either of the brigades to the North 
River is conditional, and, in case the event mentioned does not 
take place, I am left without the means of conjecturing our route 
the 10th of May. . . . The tenor of the information I receive 
induces me to believe the enemy design the embarkation soon to take 
place for South Carolina, and that the system in New York is 
defensive only. 

General Parsons was correct in his forecast of the plans and 
intentions of the enemy. Their mysterious movements and the 
active preparations in New York, were as it turned out, all made 
with reference to an expedition against South Carolina, which 
Sir Henry Clinton was to command in person and which was to 
sail in a few days, but which was delayed for various reasons 
and did not get to sea until the latter part of December. 

The following order, dated April 28, was addressed by 
General Washington to the Commanding Officer at Redding: — 

By intelligence received from different quarters, there is great 
reason to suspect the enemy has some important movement in con- 
templation. In this aspect of things, it becomes the part of pru- 
dence to provide as effectually as we can for the security of those 
points at which we are most vunerable. I am, therefore, to desire 
you will, without delay, detach General Parsons' brigade to rein- 
force General McDougall, and to continue with him 'till further 
orders. They must take their baggage and artillery with them. 

To this General Parsons replied: — 

Redding, May 2, 1779. 
Dear General. — Your letter of the 28th, directed to the Com- 
manding Officer here, came safe to me about four o'clock this morn- 
ing. According to your Excellency's former orders of the 23d, I 
have given orders to General Huntington's brigade whose tour of 
duty it is, (mine having performed the last), to hold itself in readi- 
ness to march on the shortest notice, and, on receiving intelligence 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 235 

of the embarkation of some regiment of the enemy, I had ordered 
them to march to Peekskill to reinforce General McDougall. On 
receipt of your last, I was much at a loss whether to countermand 
the march of this brigade and order mine to Peekskill, but con- 
sidering it will necessarily take up more time before mine can 
march, all the guards being supplied from my brigade, and General 
Huntington's having been collected for marching some days, and 
no new object appearing in which the troops are to be employed, 
and fearing the Posts in the Highlands, being of great importance 
and which may require the most speedy arrival of the troops for 
their support, I thought I could not better comply with the spirit 
of your Excellency's last order than by continuing the order I had 
given to the Second Brigade. 

But lest I should contravene your Excellency's intentions in 
marching this brigade, I have ordered mine to hold itself in readi- 
ness to march on the shortest notice, and shall this day call in all 
my outguards that nothing shall on our part be the occasion of any 
delay in executing your Excellency's commands. 

I must remind your Excellency we are not supplied with tents 
and camp utensils, nor have we any order for arms and acouter- 
raents, in which we are deficient. One of our field pieces is split, 
which I have ordered to Springfield, when I hope we shall be sup- 
plied with another. Our horses are sent for but not now arrived, 
but I hope they will be in very soon. The portmanteaus with which 
the officers were to be furnished, have not come, nor can I find any 
are provided here, so that it will be difficult for them to contract 
their baggage to so small a compass as was expected. 

The enemy continues fortifying Laurel Hill east of Eort Wash- 
ington, and 'tis said when this is completed, they design to evacu- 
ate the Posts this side Kingsbridge; this has the appearance of a 
defensive system in New York. 

To General Washington. ■"■ ^^ ^^'^ 

Saml. H. Parsons. 

The following is the order to the Commanding Officer of the 
Second Brigade referred to above: — 

May l^t, 1779. 
Sir. — On receipt of this you are directed witliout delay to march 
the brigade under your command to Peekskill, where you will re- 
ceive the orders of General McDougall. 

I am &c., 

Saml. H. Parsons, 

B. G. Comm. Div. 



236 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

May 11, 1779, General Parsons writes to Washington: — 

Dear General. — My horses and tents having arrived last night 

(arms, accouterments and some camp utensils excepted) we are 

ready to take the field; my guards are all called in and we shall be 

happy to receive your Excellency's orders to march to any place you 

think proper. I have delivered your Excellency's letters and orders 

to General Putnam and shall be happy to receive orders to leave 

this camp. _ „ 

1 am &c., 

To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

General Putnam having returned to camp, writes May 7, 
1779, to Washington: — 

Dear Sir. — I am now taking the earliest opportunity to acquaint 
your Excellency with my arrival in camp to resume command of 
my division. 

From the letters which passed in my absence and which I have 
seen since my return, I find there was reason to apprehend the 
enemy would have been in motion before this time, and that upon 
these appearances, it was judged necessary for all the troops which 
were under my command to march for the defense of the Posts on 
the North River, except the First Connecticut Brigade, which is 
now held in readiness for that purpose. . . . Although I do 
not in the least doubt the necessity and propriety of these measures, 
or wish to be informed of the secrets of the ensuing campaign, yet 
it is exceedingly natural for me to have some little curiosity about 
my future destination; whether I am to command those troops 
which have been with me the winter past or in some new depart- 
ment, or whether I am to remain to guard the huts at this place. 
For after General McDougall is reinforced with the whole of my 
division (which will augment his to a very respectable command) 
nothing is said concerning the part which I am to act. 

I am unhappy to inform your Excellency that, upon the removal 
of our detachments from the sea-coast, the enemy have exhibited 
some specimens of enterprise so usual to them. A few nights since, 
a small party from a whale-boat landed at Fairfield, surprised and 
carried off Brigadier General Silliman and his son. Major Silli- 
man. Last night another party landed at Middlesex, near Nor- 
walk, in quest of one Captain Selleck, who happened to be absent; 
but a Mr. Webb, late a lieutenant in the trainband, two of the in- 
habitants and the ingenious Dr. Bushnell, fell into their hands. As 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 237 

tlie latter, who was there in prosecution of his unremitting en- 
deavors to destroy the enemy's shipping, is personally known to 
very few people, he may not be discovered by his real name or 
character and may be considered of less consequence than he 
actually is. [Bushnell was the inventor of the torpedo used to 
blow up the Asia.] I am &c., 

Israel Putnam. 
To General Washington. 

In writing, the 16th, to General McDougall, Parsons says: — 
" The General in his answer to my letters approves of my send- 
ing Huntington's brigade to Peekskill, and directs that mine 
remain at this Post until I receive his further orders and that 
General Huntington's brigade continue at Peekskill." 

President Timothy Dwight, Chaplain of Parsons' brigade 
by appointment of Congress, October 6, 1777, writes from 
Northampton, April 23, 1779, to General Parsons: — 

Dear Sir. — Yours of April 10th arrived safely. It gave me 
pleasure to hear of your welfare and pain on other accounts, which 
you will naturally guess, although you may not be able to guess so 
well as Governor Tryon. 

I find I shall not be able to join the Army in due season and so, 
with reluctance, desire you to appoint a successor to me. I am 
amazed at the attitude of people on both sides of the water. Our 
country here sinks inconceivably, while taxes rise. Without a gift 
of prophecy, I will venture to foretell that the movement which 
forces small farmers to sell their real estate for the purpose of pay- 
ing taxes, will produce a revolution. 

That God may grant a speedy cessation of hostilities is the most 
fervent wish of your sincere friend and most humble servant, 

Timothy Dwight. 
To General Parsons. 

Camp Redding, April 29, General Parsons writes to 
Colonel Lamb, calling him to account for circulating false 
reports concerning him: — 

Sir. — I am informed that you have taken the liberty to report 
that I have been guilty of taking from the inhabitants below the 
lines cattle and other property and appropriating the avails to my 
own use ; and that I have employed soldiers in privateers in which 



238 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

I am interested to the injury of the public service, and that I have, 
or now do, carry on a commerce with the enemies of these States. 
These are in substance the articles of which I have heard you 
accuse me. 

As I cannot persuade myself that any gentleman, especially a 
person of your good sense, will assert facts so much to the injury 
of another, and so totally destitute of all color of truth as all those 
representations are, I think it my duty to acquaint you of the 
reports, not so much on my own account as yours, for if you have 
reported these things I know you have injured yourself more than 
any man can injure me, because there is not the least foundation 
in truth to support the facts. Neither cattle nor horses nor any 
other property have been taken by my guards from the inhabitants 
below the lines since we have been in this camp. I never owned 
any part of a privateer in my life. I don't recollect to have bought 
of or sold to any person below the lines or on Long Island or any 
other place within the enemy's possessions since the controversy 
first commenced. Nor have I ever received a farthing of any 
plunder taken under any circumstances. 

It is cruel and the height of vileness to traduce any man in this 
manner, especially one who has invariably followed the fortunes of 
his country from the first commencement of the contest, and rep- 
resentations of this kind where you are reported to be the authority 
are highly injurious to you. I am sure you will not deny any re- 
ports of which you are really the author, and, therefore, both on 
your own and my account, have a right to expect an answer by 
which I may be made certain (for I shall believe you) whether you 
have reported these things or not. 

Charges of this character were made throughout the war 
against the most prominent people (among others against Gov- 
ernors Trumbull and Clinton) without the least foundation in 
fact, and usually by persons who were themselves engaged in 
these transactions and who circulated such reports to divert 
suspicion from themselves. How Colonel Lamb justified him- 
self does not appear, as his answer, if any were made, has been 
lost. 

April 30, 1779, General Parsons writes to Governor 
Trumbull respecting several questions which had arisen as to 
the proper construction of a late Act of the Assembly making 
provision for the troops of the State: — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 239 

Sir. — I have received and communicated to the troops the Act 
of Assembly of the 7th, making provision for the troops of this 
State, and hope that general satisfaction will arise from it which 
the justice and tender concern for th€ troops manifested in the 
Act ought to produce. Nothing has or shall be omitted on my part 
to render the just expectations of the Assembly effectual. As that 
Body ever has, so I am convinced it will still be desirous of remov- 
ing every doubt which may arise in construing the Act in which 
so great a part of the subjects of the State are interested, and 
rendering it satisfactory to the command. I shall, therefore, freely 
point out the difficulties which have been suggested and request 
your Excellency to lay the matter before the Assembly for its con- 
sideration. By some, both officers and soldiers, it is supposed the 
Act makes no provision for doing justice to any who do not serve 
the term of three years or during the war; that those who die with 
sickness, fall in battle or are disabled in service or for sufficient 
reasons obtain an honorable discharge, are not entitled to satisfac- 
tion during the time they do serve. I confess I do not see the Act 
fairly capable of such construction, because the term of three j^ears 
or during the war mentioned in the Act, appears to me only de- 
scriptive of the persons entitled to receive the promised justice, 
and the expiration of the time of their service, as affixing the 
period in which that justice shall be done them, and the time of 
their service expires as effectually on their death or discharge as on 
the expiration of three years or at the close of the war; and this 
construction of the Act I have assured the troops is the true meaning 
and intention of Government. 

Another difficulty suggested is, that till the period of payment, 
no adjustment is to be made, and the longer the time is protracted, 
the greater difficulties remain in ascertaining the justice due to the 
Army or the individuals in it; and the party who has to pay has the 
sole weight of deciding the sums due. Another objection made is 
the uncertainty whether those of the regimental staff, such as 
surgeons, &c., are provided for, and some brigade officers, such as 
Major of brigades, chaplains, &c. These are all serving in the 
Connecticut Line of Infantry, but are not officers of the Line in 
the Infantry. As I am sure the Assembly of Connecticut will be 
desirous of putting their intentions into the most clear and explicit 
terms beyond the power of construction, and to adopt such measures 
as will give the most perfect satisfaction, I hope not to give offense 
when I request, at the desire of the officers, that the Assembl}' would 
at their next session, pass an explanatory resolve by which the 
doubts before mentioned shall be removed, and by which it will 



240 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

appear that those who die or are discharged before the expiration 
of the term for which they engaged is ended^ and those staff officers 
who are not of the Line, but serving in the Line, may be explicitly 
entitled to the liberal grants made by the Assembly, and that a com- 
mittee be appointed to ascertain the sums due the Army for the 
years 1777 and 1778 and so at the close of every year; this com- 
mittee, they apprehend, ought to have one of its members from the 
Army. 

As it will be the interest, so I make no doubt the State will cheer- 
fully furnish moneys to the officers and soldiers from time to time 
as their necessities may require. The sums voted to be paid this 
spring and next fall, will be a very essential relief to them, and I 
must entreat your Excellency's attention to this subject, that the 
sums necessary may be supplied. They are indeed distressed for 
want. 'Tis now four months since any wages have been paid, and 
there is no money among the troops ; they are greatly discontented 
and 'tis with difficulty they are quieted. I believe this sum, if now 
paid, would be a seasonable relief of their real distresses and would 
give great content. I cannot but assign the want of pay, or sup- 
plies of money in some way, as one cause of the great desertions 
in our Line. I believe we have lost near two hundred this winter by 
desertion. The numbers and names I will make out and return to 
your Excellency, that some measures may be taken to return them 
to their duty. I am sorry to have reason to say there appears no 
disposition in the country to aid us in our endeavors to regain our 
soldiers, but, in some instances, they conceal them and in others 
refuse them from us. 

I am &c., 
To Governor Trumhull. Saml. H. Parsons. 

]\Iay 6, Parsons wrote to Governor Clinton, respecting a 
a prisoner he sends him, named Willets : — 

Redding, May 6, 1779. 
Sir. — I have apprehended one, Willets, and send him to your 
care. My reasons for taking him are that for several months past 
he has practiced passing along the coast of this State and always 
makes his quarters among the most disaffected part of the inhabi- 
tants ; is charged with communicating intelligence to the enemy on 
Long Island and is suspected to be aiding the plan of passing coun- 
terfeit money. [The British at this time were endeavoring to injure 
our credit by circulating counterfeits of our currency. This was 
done to such an extent that Congress withdrew an entire issue.] 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 241 

The jealousies are fortified by his being in no apparent business 
and spending months in those towns at a distance from his family 
and friends without any visible cause. The day I took him up, he 
said he was going to Long Island and that he wanted no public 
license to go; that he had often passed and repassed to and from 
the Island and would again do it without liberty. I find in his 
papers sundry memorandums for goods to be purchased and some 
letters prepared by him to be sent to the Island, filled with infernal 
lies calculated to work upon the hopes and fears of the persons to 
whom directed, and in the end to cheat them out of their estates. 
His father and uncle are two of these persons, which shows the 
man wholly destitute of every principle of honor and virtue. He 
is notorious for having no regard for the truth, and Mr. Lloyd, 
Capt. Grennell and others from Long Island give him a character 
of the most infamous sort. Under these circumstances, I thought it 
wholly improper he should remain on the coast of the Sound, and, 
as he is a subject of the State of New York, I have sent him to 
Poughkeepsie that the authorities of that State should take such 
measures with him as they judge necessary. The money and papers 
found with him are also transmitted to your care. 

I am &c.. 
To Governor Clinton. Saml. H. Parsons. 

May 17, 1779, Parsons writes to General Wasliington in 
reference to the discharge of Lieut. Jackson and Ensign Llotch- 
kiss, and adds, " If there should be any western or northern 
campaign, my officers would much prefer being employed in 
active service to any other disposition of my brigade, if the 
general good may as well be promoted. For my own part, I 
should prefer any part in an active campaign to any stationary 
post." 

May 22 he writes to his friend, Lovell, in Congress, enquir- 
ing whether any brigadier of later appointment than August 9, 
1776, (the date of Parsons' commission) has been promoted. 
" I am informed General Moultrie is lately promoted. You must 
be sensible of the feelings of a military officer on such an 
event, and, although I am willing to devote my life to the serv- 
ice of my country, I shall never be persuaded 'tis my duty to 
continue that service under such circumstances as will reflect 
personal dishonor upon me, and must join my fellow citizens 
in despising myself if I submitted to take any command in tlie 



242 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

army under these circumstances." The favoritism of Congress 
was a fruitful cause of jealousies and heart-burnings among 
officers of the army, which a better system and a less capricious 
method of appointments would have avoided to the benefit of 
the service. 

The people of Connecticut living near the Sound had for 
some time been in the habit of fitting out private expeditions 
for the purpose of plundering the inhabitants of Long Island 
who lived within the enemy's lines. This practice General 
Parsons regarded, not only as unlawful, but impolitic and dis- 
graceful, and as justifying every act of barbarity or cruelty 
which the British had been guilty of, and which Congress and 
every honest member of society had indignantly denounced. 
" But, as there was a claim that the practice would be supported 
by law," writes Parsons to John Jay, President of Congress, 
" and very frequent instances would probably occur in which we 
by our military instructions might be called to interpose, I 
therefore expressly directed Colonel Gray to seize the goods 
mentioned in the libel when they came within his guard for the 
sole purpose of having a decision of the Courts of Law upon the 
legality of this practice of plundering the inhabitants of Long 
Island, that we might not be guilty of trespassing on the rights 
of the people by exercise of military power to suppress this 
conduct in case it was adjudged legal." The goods seized were 
libelled by the claimant, William Scudder, and the Court, upon 
the hearing, very much to Parsons' surprise, having held such 
private warfare lawful, he reports the case to General Washing- 
ton and asks for further directions : — 

Redding, May 15, 1779. 
Dear General. — The cause between William Scudder and Lt. 
Colonel Gray respecting the goods plundered upon Long Island 
has issued in favor of Scudder. Your Excellency will readily 
believe the perplexing situation the officers commanding on the 
coast on the advanced Posts are placed by the decree. The single 
point litigated and decided was, whether merchandise the property 
of private persons within that territory possessed by the enemy was 
by law liable to be plundered by any of the subjects of the United 
States, and on a long and full hearing the Court has justified the 
practice; the consequence must be that whoever attempts to prevent 
this practice is a trespasser and liable to an action at law. I know 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 243 

my officers have honestly and faithfully endeavored to carry your 
Excellency's orders on that head into execution. I am convinced 
that the laws of nations as well as the policy which ought to be 
adopted in this country^ whose extensive coast affords so many 
opportunities to retaliate, forbids the practice, nor can I convince 
myself that any person or body of men have a greater right to de- 
termine the mode or extent of warring than they have to declare 
war or make peace, and have, therefore, always supposed every spe- 
cies of reprisal was unlawful but those which were particularly 
authorized by Congress. But the Courts of Law determine other- 
wise, and, by the consequences of the decree in this ease, subject 
all the inhabitants on Long Island and other places possessed by the 
enemy to be indiscriminately plundered. The officers, therefore, will 
be at a loss whether your Excellency would still continue your order 
to prevent these practices. I am &c., 

Saml. H. Parsons. 
To General Washington 

Believing the decree of the Court to be contrary to law and 
good policy, General Parsons on the 2d of May transmitted a 
copy of the proceedings in the case to President Jay and Avished 
to know what in the judgment of Congress was to be done in 
such cases of private warfare. On the 9th and 20th he again 
writes Mr. Jay, urging that Congress direct an appeal to be 
taken, and offering, in case of an adverse decision, to himself 
pay the costs and save Colonel Gray harmless. He argues 
against the practice of indiscriminate plunder, not only because 
it is infamous, but because it is contrary to military orders. 
" I have always thought," he says, " that the Supreme Council 
of every nation ought to have the right of making war and 
peace, . . . and that no man in a state of society can so 
far resume his natural rights as to determine either the mode 
or extent of his making war against his neighbor. ... If 
forfeitures are incurred in any case, they are made to society 
and are not to be appropriated to the use of individuals. 
No civilized nation ever avowed the practice of plun- 
dering the inhabitants of those subjects of a nation they were 
contending with, who remained in their own business and were 
not found in arms. . . . If no further proceedings are 
had in the case, I shall suppose Congress is of the opinion the 
practice is laudable and honorary, and that no military order 



244 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

to prevent it is to be obeyed, and that every subject of these 
States who is not restrained by his own private sentiments is at 
Hberty to commit such depredations on the property of the 
inhabitants within the territory possessed by the enemy as he 
pleases, and as the trade of plundering is now in a flourishing 
condition, we shall be at liberty to share the benefits of it with 
our fellow citizens." Parsons' position on this question, 
although in the highest degree honorable to himself and fully 
in accord with the ideas and practices of modern civilized war- 
fare was not calculated to make him friends among the piratical 
crews that sailed the Sound. Right or wrong, it is certain that 
these expeditions were not generally looked upon with disfavor. 
Indeed, the coast people had much to plead in justification. 
They were themselves constantly subject to raids from the 
Long Island shore, and it was but human to retaliate. They 
evidently did not regard themselves as making war, but rather 
as engaged in recovering what belonged to them. The possi- 
bility of injuring innocent people did not deter them, for they 
well knew that Lloyd's Neck, Huntington's Bay and the whole 
country between there and New York was a veritable Tory nest, 
and that strike where they would there was small chance that any 
patriot would suffer. What the Courts upheld and the gen- 
eral sentiment of the community sustained could not have 
appeared very criminal in their eyes. 

General Putnam having been assigned to the command of 
the Right Wing, then stationed on the west side of the Hudson 
near Smiths Clove, issued to his Division the following parting 
order : — 

Headquarters, Redding, May 27, 1779. 

Major General Putnam being about to take command of one of 
the Wings of the Grand Army, before he leaves the troops who have 
served under him the winter past, thinks it his duty to signify to 
them his entire approbation of their regular and soldier-like con- 
duct, and wishes them, (wherever they may happen to be out,) a 
successful and glorious campaign. 

General Parsons, by virtue of seniority, now succeeded to the 
command of the Connecticut Division, and, except when tem- 
porarily absent from camp, continued to command it until his 
retirement from the Army in 1782. 



CHAPTER XVHI 

Clinton's Expedition up the Hudson. Tryon's Raid on New 
Haven, Fairfield and Norwalk. Wayne Retakes Stony 
Point. Sullivan's Expedition Against the Six Nations. Par- 
sons Succeeds Putnam in the Command of the Connecticut 
Division. _ 

May — December, 17SI9 

On the 28th of April, 1779, General Washington had written 
General Putnam from his Headquarters at INIiddlebrook, in New 
Jersey, that he had great reason to suspect that the enemy had 
some important movement in contemplation, and desired him 
without delay to detach General Parsons' brigade to reinforce 
General McDougall. On the 24th of May he further wrote: — 

By recent intelligence through different channels I have the 
best reason to believe that General Clinton has drawn his whole 
force to a point at New York and its vicinity ; that he has collected, 
and some accounts add, removed to Kingsbridge, a number of flat- 
bottomed boats with muffled oars, and that every appearance indi- 
cates an expedition at hand. There are but two important objects 
he can have in view, to wit, this army and the Posts in the High- 
lands. Should either be attempted, therefore, or a movement made 
which has a tendency to either, you will cause General Parsons' 
brigade to march without a moments loss of time for the Highlands 
and put them under the orders of General McDougall. 

The next day the brigade was in readiness to march. The 
following orders indicate its route to the Highlands. 

Redding, May 2Uh, 1779. 
General Parsons orders the brigade to be ready to march to-mor- 
row at six o'clock A. M., complete for action. 

Ridgefield, May SOth, 1779. 
General Parsons orders that Colonel Wyllys furnish a sergeant, 
corporal and twelve privates to be posted as a guard this night one- 

245 



246 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

quarter of a mile in front of where his regiment is quartered on the 
road leading to Bedford. That Colonel IMeigs furnish a guard of 
the same number to be stationed the same distance on the road lead- 
ing to Xorwalk. The reveille to be beat to-morrow morning at the 
dawn of day, the troops to parade at four o'clock half a mile below 
the meeting house on the road leading to Bedford, for which 
place they will march immediately after, in the same order as 
this day. 

Bedford, May SI, 1779. 
The troops of General Parsons' brigade to have two days rations 
per man from Captain Townsend, to refresh themselves and be 
ready to march in two hours, to parade near the meeting house. 

FisHKiLL, June 2, 1779. 
General Parsons orders that Com'sr. Sturm deliver one gill of 
rum per man and two days provisions to the troops of his brigade 
this day, the Quartermaster to make return of the same. 

To the revolutionary soldier rum seems to have been a great 
necessity. In a letter to Robert Morris written about this time, 
Washington thus laments its scarcity : — " No magazines of rum 
have been formed. We have been in a manner destitute of that 
necessary article, and what we are now likely to draw from the 
several States will be from hand to mouth." 

The enemy having landed at Teller's Point on the Hudson, 
McDougall deemed it prudent to retire into the Highlands and 
take post at Budd's, opposite West Point, in order to keep 
open his communications with the Point and secure the pass to 
Fishkill in his rear. Here he was joined, June 2d, by General 
Parsons with his brigade, which went into camp on the east 
side of the river on the same ground it had occupied ten 
months before when it left the Higlilands to join Washington's 
Army at White Plains. With this reinforcement, McDougall 
had three Continental brigades and a large body of militia. 
The enemy was known to be in force at this time down the 
river and an early attack was expected. The troops on the 
east side were ordered to push forward the work on the North, 
Middle and South redoubts. Patterson not having returned 
from his furlough, McDougall appointed General Parsons, who 
was well acquainted with the Post, to command at West Point. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 247 

Accordingly, on the evening of the 3d instant, he assumed 
command at Fort Clinton. The garrison consisted of 
Learncd's, Patterson's and the Carolina brigade, about seventeen 
hundred strong. 

The following letter was written by Parsons to General 
Washington, in answer to a request for information as to the 
state of the garrison : — 

West Point, June 5, 1779. 
Dear General. — In answer to your questions by Captain Chrys- 
tie of the Pennsylvania regiment, I have given him information of 
the state of this garrison, which will be explained by the proper 
key. The garrison are in high spirits and are very desirous to re- 
ceive the enemy's attack. I cannot promise that the Post will be 
successfully defended, but I am certain every exertion will be made 
by the troops to secure the possession of that honor to themselves 
and their country, which they so frequently anticipate in reflection. 
If any more troops are ordered here, and should I continue in com- 
mand of the Post for any length of time, I would beg your Excel- 
lency to order my brigade to compose part of the garrison. Two 
regiments of that brigade are perfectly acquainted with the country, 
and in that respect are better able to answer all the purposes ex- 
pected from the garrison. 

I am &c.. 
To General Washington Saml. H. Parsons. 

On the 31st of May, Sir Henry Clinton came up the Hudson 
with a force of about six thousand men, a fleet of seventy sail- 
ing vessels and one hundred and fifty flat-boats collected at 
Kingsbridge. He landed one division under General Vaughn 
on the east side of the river eight miles below Verplancks Point, 
and another, commanded by himself, on the west side of the 
river three miles below Stony Point. Upon the approach of 
the enemy, the little garrison of forty men at Stony Point, 
abandoned the Fort, which Clinton immediately took possession 
of and proceeded to fortify. Fort Lafayette at Verplancks 
Point held out for a time, but unable to endure the assault of 
Vaughn's troops and the artillery fire from Stony Point and 
the vessels, the seventy men composing the garrison surrendered, 
June 2. The capture of the forts, as Clinton intended, 
completely interrupted our communications by wa^^ of King's 



248 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Ferry and in many ways was productive of great inconvenience 
to our army. But the rapid advance of the eastern troops 
rendered any further attempts impracticable, and CHnton soon 
returned to New York. 

The following letter from General Parsons to Governor CHn- 
ton, written at the time of Sir Henry Clinton's raid, shows how 
uncontrollable were the militia and how little they could be 
depended upon for the defense of the Post: — 

West Point, Jtine 7, 1779. 

Dear Sir. — I have seen your letter to General McDougall re- 
specting the militia, and am concerned that any representations 
should be made which should induce you to imagine that the ques- 
tion relative to the militia is a dispute about command or rank. I 
think it an exceeding improper time to draw these rights in ques- 
tion, and am as well satisfied that Colonel Malcom should use his 
discretion about conducting the militia, as to have any concern myself 
about the matter; indeed I choose it and have a very good opinion 
of Colonel Malcom as an officer and a gentleman; but, Sir, I am 
ordered here to be answerable for the safety of this Post, and am 
informed three thousand men are the garrison, of which part is 
from your militia; of the latter I find none. My guard, therefore, 
and patrols, scouts &c. are as numerous as though the militia were 
not out. I have no returns from them, nor any information respect- 
ing their guards &c. ; in short, they are so uncontrollable by my 
orders that I cannot consider myself as accountable for this Post, 
which is to be defended by three thousand men, when a sixth or 
fifth part are deficient, and when I have no such controlling power 
as to compel them to come in when I call. There's no understanding 
between me and Colonel Malcom on the subject, but I must have 
men under my command if I am to answer for their conduct. 

I believe most of the militia are well posted at present, but when 
I shall get them in, if wanted, I cannot tell. Colonel Tuston with 
his regiment came into the Fort to day, but I believe most of them 
go off to-morrow. I wish you would come over and see them. 

I am, Sir, your obedt. servt.. 
To Governor Clinton. Saml. H. Parsons. 

In answer to a request from General Washington for his 
opinion as to the proper disposition of the army now that the 
enemy has returned to New York, General Parsons writes as 
follows : — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 249 

West Point, June 12, 1779. 

Dear General. — General Patterson joined his brigade last even- 
ing and is now at the Point. When the public service will admit, 
I shall be happy to join my brigade at such place as will most con- 
duce to the general welfare. 

Your Excellency was pleased to desire my opinion of the dis- 
position to be made of the army. Under all circumstances I think 
three thousand men should be assigned for garrisoning this Post, 
by which I understand the Forts on the Point and Highlands near 
Rock-Hill, and the Island where Fort Constitution was. 

On the east side the River, a force should be kept in the High- 
lands sufficient to prevent the enemy occupying the hills there which 
may cover the Works, which will exceedingly distress this Post. 
The advance of those troops may safely be at or near the village; 
this I think necessary, because those grounds cannot be held by this 
garrison without new Works are constructed and the garrison in- 
creased. The remainder of the army will be well posted in or near 
Smith's Clove with a detachment advanced between Fort Montgom- 
ery and near the Furnace. As this Post or the Army are the only 
capital objects the enemy can propose, I do not know a better dis- 
position which can be made at present to defeat their designs than 
what may be formed on the ideas before expressed. 

I have nothing new this day. Neither my scouts nor boats are 
yet returned. I should be obliged to your Excellency to be informed 
what Congress have resolved respecting an Aid-de-Camp for a 
brigadier, that I may recommend one if allowed. 

I am &c., 
To General Washington Saml. H. Parsons. 

The enemy being in possession of Vcrplancks and Stony 
Points, Washington, on the 23d of June, 1779, left the main 
body of the army at Smiths Clove under the command of Gen- 
eral Putnam, and removed his headquarters to New Windsor, 
just north of the Highlands, where he could be nearer to the 
Forts and in a better position to direct the different parts of 
the Army on both sides of the river. Major General Heath 
having been placed in command on the cast side of the Hudson, 
Major General McDougall was transferred to West Point. 
Parsons in accordance with his request, was permitted to join 
his brigade, which was still -encamped directly opposite West 
Point, with instructions to send fatigue parties daily across the 



250 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

river to assist in constructing the Works. Nixon's brigade 
was stationed on Constitution Island and Huntington's was well 
advanced on the main road to Fishkill. The great object in 
view in this disposition of the troops was to guard against any 
attack which the enemy might make upon the Posts in the 
Highlands. 

On the 25th of June, General Heath wrote to General Par- 
sons from his Headquarters at the Danforth House, as 
follows : — 

Dear Sir. — I have this moment received a letter from his Excel- 
lency, General Washington, in which is a paragraph in the follow- 
ing words: " I think it will be advisable to detach a couple hundred 
men towards Robinson's Stores at Mahopac Pond, to march light 
and with caution, endeavoring to magnify their numbers to the 
inhabitants. This may serve to check the enemy and help discover 
their design." 

In consequence whereof you ^\ill please to detach as soon as may 
be, one Field Officer, and one hundred Light Infantry properly 
officered; this detachment from your brigade will be joined by one 
hundred from General Huntington's brigade. As I do not fully 
know the best route, I request you would direct one and point out 
to General Huntington the place where the infantry of the two 
brigades shall form a junction, and at what hour. My dear Sir, let 
no time be lost. If possible, let the men have a little rum with them 
and such provisions as may be necessary. 

The Assembly of Connecticut having sent Colonel Chandler 
to camp to pa}' the troops of that State the forty-five thousand 
pounds promised them the previous April, Thomas Mumford of 
Groton, a member of the legislature who had taken an active 
part in raising the money, wrote as follows to General Parsons 
respecting the matter: — 

Hartford, June J/., 1779. 
Dear Sir. — You will receive this from the hand of Colonel 
Chandler of Newtown, who the Assembly have ordered to pay our 
officers and soldiers the forty-five thousand pounds promised them 
the first of April last. I refer you to him for the part I have acted 
to procure and have this money paid. I have urged the necessity 
of some more effectual methods being taken to prevent desertion. 
The answer is, there are laws now fully adequate for that purpose 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 251 

and this forty-five thousand pounds being paid they hope to hear of 
no more leaving the service. Colonel Chandler being one of the com- 
mittee to ascertain our deficiency in the eight battalions assigned us 
for this campaign, and the most expedient method to raise them, I 
refer you to him for what is done. I still hope to see our currency 
revive, Congress having recommended to call in the first of January 
next forty-five millions of dollars. The quota assigned this State 
is five millions, one hundred thousand, the just proportion to be 
ascertained hereafter. This will require taxes to the amount of 
fifteen shillings on the pound in addition to ten granted this year 
already, and the State will require five shillings more on the pound 
in the course of the present year, which will make in the whole 
thirty shillings on the pound, besides town and parish taxes &c. 
What do you imagine your friend Mumford's rates amount to? He 
is only fifteen hundred pounds in the list at thirty shillings on the 
pound, amounting to twenty-two hundred and fifty pounds, to which 
add as before hinted, town taxes &c., and he will be rated very little 
short of three thousand pounds. However, five hogsheads of rum 
will pay the whole, and if these taxes will reduce the price of that 
article from twenty dollars a gallon to ten and other articles in pro- 
portion, I shall esteem my three thousand pounds well laid out, and 
hope to dispose of more in the same way to bring goods much lower 
still. There will remain plenty of room when they are reduced one- 
half. We hear the enemy have been up North River and a heavy 
firing indeed, but have not been able to know the event. I will 
always thank you for any interesting intelligence. You know my 
zeal for the independence of America, which God grant we may 
support. Adieu for the present and rank me among the number of 
your very obliged and affectionate friends. 

I am &c., 

Thomas Mumford. 
To the Hon'l. Brigadier General Parsons, 

Near North River, State of New Yorh. 

Early in July, in order to create a diversion and draw away 
the troops from the Highlands, General Tryon invaded Connec- 
ticut with twenty-six hundred British troops. Landing in three 
Divisions at New Haven on the morning of the 5th, he took 
possession of and plundered the city and burned the shipping 
and buildings at Long Wharf. The next day he burned eight 
dwellings in East Haven. lEmbarking at night, he landed on 
the 8th at Fairfield, laid nearly the whole town in ashes and 



252 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

carried off considerable plunder. Crossing the Sound to Hunt- 
ington for supplies, he returned on the night of the 11th, and 
attacked Norwalk early on the morning of the 12th, destroying 
all but a few scattered houses. In all this he was guilt\- of the 
most savage atrocities. Women, old men and children were the 
victims of his brutality. While Norwalk Avas burning, as tradi- 
tion has it, he sat in a rocking chair at his headquarters on a 
little eminence near the town, a delighted spectator of the ruin 
of a helpless people. 

As soon as Washington learned of the invasion, he directed 
General Parsons to hasten to Connecticut to aid and encourage 
the militia in their efforts at resistance. The following letters 
of July 9th and 11th, written by Parsons to Washington, show 
the part which Parsons took in the affair. A fuller and more 
detailed account of the depredations committed by General 
Tryon are to be found in Parsons' letters to Washington of the 
14th and 20th, and to General Heath of the 12th, not given 
here. 

Redding, July 9, 1779, 10 P. M. 

Dear General. — I have this moment arrived here after a tour of 
sixty miles since eleven o'clock last night. The few militia at New 
Haven behaved exceedingly well, repulsed the enemy several times, 
and considerable loss was suffered by the enemy. They burned a 
number of houses at East and West Haven, and plundered New 
Haven. They have destroyed Fairfield, almost every house; the 
abuses of women, children and old men are unparalled. They em- 
barked from Fairfield yesterday and passed over the Sound, but 
there is reason to think they design an attack on Norwalk and the 
other towns. General Wolcott has received an express informing 
him that four thousand of the enemy are in possession of Horseneck 
and marching eastward. I have written to Colonel Wayland, and 
the small number of infantry, desiring them to march to the coast. 
I hope it will be agreeable to your Excellency's intentions. I hear 
nothing of Glover's brigade. Is it possible to send one thousand 
Continental troops ? They will serve to steady the militia and render 
them a formidable body. I will write you from Norwalk, where I 
shall be to-night. 

I am your Excellency's obedient servant, 
To General Washington Samuel H. Parsons. 

To this General Washington replied as follows : — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 253 

Headquarters, July 10, 1779. 

Dear Sir. — I have received your favor of the 9th from Lud- 
dington's and Redding. It gives me great concern to hear of the 
ravages of the enemy. The conduct of the militia at New Haven 
does them the highest honor. I had heard of it before through 
several channels. I have written to General Heath to move with 
the two Connecticut Brigades towards the enemy by way of Crom- 
pond in the first instance, and from thence to Ridgefield and Bed- 
ford, which I hope will animate the militia, and in some measure 
prevent the enemy's incursions. 

July 11th. 

It is probable the public may have occasion, or at least wish, to 
know at some period the extent of the enemy's depredations and 
cruelties; indeed, it is right that the world should know them. I 
therefore request, that you will endeavor, as far as opportunity will 
permit, to ascertain as precisely as you can what number of houses 
they have destro37ed in their expedition up the Sound, distinguish- 
ing the towns in which they were, and every other outrage that they 
have committed. I shall be glad to receive a printed copy of Gen. 
Tryon's proclamation which he has published. 

I am dear Sir, &c., 
To General Parsons. Geo. Washington. 

Wilton, July 11th, 1779. 
Dear General. — In my last I informed you that the enemy 
landed last night. This morning the enemy on their advance were 
met by the militia and some skirmishing ensued, but without con- 
siderable effect on either side. At about six o'clock, the troops 
under Gen. Wolcott and my small detachment of about one hundred 
and fifty Continental troops, joined and took possession of an 
eminence at the north end of the town. The enemy advanced in 
our front and on our left flank until about nine o'clock, when they 
were checked in their progress by the vigorous exertions of the 
parties of militia and Continental troops sent out to oppose them, 
and in turn were compelled to retire from hill to hill, sometimes in 
great disorder. We continued to advance upon them until nearly 
eleven o'clock, when a column having nearly gained our right flank, 
the militia in the center gave way and retreated in disorder. This 
gave the enemy possession of our ground. Gen. Wolcott, who com- 
manded the militia, exerted himself upon this occasion to rally the 
troops and bring them to order again, but without eff"ect until they 
had retired about two miles, when some troops being again formed, 
returned to the aid of the right and left wings, who had retired 



i 



254 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

but a small distance and in order. With these the enemy were pur- 
sued again and retreated with precipitation to their ships. 

I have the pleasure to assure your Excellency, the Continental 
troops without exception, they being all engaged, behaved with the 
greatest bravery. Capt. Betts, who was the first engaged with the 
enemy and who continued longest in the action, deserves particular 
notice for his great fortitude and prudent conduct in the battle. 
He continued advancing on the enemy until the center of the main 
body gave way; and he and his party, advanced nearly a mile at the 
time, and by his prudence was able to effect a regular retreat with- 
out any considerable loss. Capt. Eells on the right, and Capt. Sher- 
man on the left, were also engaged, and when obliged to retire, kept 
their order and retreated with regularity. A body of militia (I 
think they were commanded by Maj. Porter) and another considera- 
ble detachment, deserve honorable mention to be made of them. 

I am not yet able to ascertain our own or the enemy's loss, but in 
my next shall be able lo give a more particular account. In my hand- 
ful of Continental troops I have lost five men killed and Lieutenant 
Gibbs and six privates wounded. I don't know of any missing: 
some loss the militia have sustained. I am satisfied the loss of the 
enemy must have been considerable. 

About twenty boats landed on the west side of the harbor at five 
o'clock, and immediately began to set fire to the buildings. They 
completed burning the town at about twelve o'clock. This appeared 
to have been their sole business as they did not stay to carry off any 
plunder of considerable value. A few Tory houses are left which 
I hope our people will burn, as the burners are here and have com- 
mitted no act by which the public can seize them. I imagine Stam- 
ford will be the next object to wreak their hellish malice upon. To 
that place I shall repair to-morrow. I am fully persuaded that five 
hundred more men such as the brave militia I have before mentioned, 
and the one hundred and fifty Continentals, would have given 
the enemy a total defeat. The numbers of the enemy were about 
two thousand — our numbers between nine and eleven hundred. 

I am dear General, your obedient servant, 
To General Washington. Samuel H. Parsons. 



July 12 Parsons again wrote from Wilton asking for a 
supply of ammunition, as his stock was nearly exhausted. The 
same day he wrote to Washington, expressing his gratification 
that the Connecticut Division had been ordered to the coast. 
General Heath's orders of July 10, directed the first and 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 255 

second brigades to march the next morning ; " Parsons' brigade 
to strike, pack and load its tents as early as possible, and join 
Huntington's brigade, wliich is to remain at its present post on 
the Fishkill road ready to march as soon as the junction is 
formed, both brigades to be as little encumbered as possible." 
The Division marched as ordered, but not early enough to inter- 
cept Tryon, much to the regret of Parsons, who would have 
liked nothing better than to have had the opportunity to answer 
Tryon's insulting proclamation with the rifles of his Continen- 
tals. On the 14th, Parsons wrote from Stamford detailing the 
positions of the British and their cruel treatment of prisoners. 
On the 20tli, he reported, as requested by Washington, the 
number of buildings destroyed by the enemy in Fairfield and 
Norwalk and gave further details as to the enemy's cruelty to 
prisoners. According to his return there were burned in Fair- 
field on the 9th, ninety-seven dwellings, sixty-seven barns, 
forty-eight stores, two meeting-houses, a church, the Court 
House, jail and two school houses; in Norwalk on the 11th, one 
hundred and thirty dwellings, eighty-seven barns, twenty-two 
stores, seventeen shops, four mills, one church and one meeting- 
house. The aggregate loss at New Haven, Fairfield and Nor- 
walk amounted to nearly half a million of dollars. 

The following is the proclamation published by Tryon in 
Connecticut, a printed copy of which Washington desired Par- 
sons to procure for him : — 

By Commodore Sir George Collier, commander in chief of his 
Majesty's ships and vessels in North America, and Major Gen. 
William Tryon, commanding his Majesty's land forces on a sepa- 
rate expedition. 
Address to the inhabitants of Connecticut. 

The ungenerous and wanton insurrection against the sovereignty 
of Great Britain into which this colony has been deluded by the 
artifices of designing men for private purposes, might well justify 
in you every fear which conscious guilt could form, respecting the 
intentions of the present armament. 

Your town, your property, yourselves, lie within the grasp of the 
power whose forbearance you have ungenerously construed into 
fear, but whose lenity has pea*sisted in its mild and noble efforts, 
even though branded with the most unworthy imputation. 

The existence of a single habitation on your defenseless coast 



256 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ought to be a subject of constant reproof to your ingratitude. Can 
the strength of your whole province cope with the force which might 
at any time be poured through every district in your country? You 
are conscious it cannot. Why, then, will you persist in a ruinous 
and ill-judged resistance? We hoped that you would recover from 
the frenzy which has distracted this unhappy country; and we 
believe the day to be near come when the greater part of this conti- 
nent will begin to blush at their delusion. You, who lie so much in 
our power, afford that most striking monument of our mercy, and 
therefore ought to set the first example of returning to allegiance. 

Reflect on what gratitude requires of you; if that is sufficient to 
move you, attend to your own interest; we offer you a refuge against 
the distress which you universally acknowledge broods with increas- 
ing and intolerable weight over all your country. 

Leaving you to consult with each other upon this invitation, we 
do now declare that whosoever shall be found and remain in peace, 
at his usual place of residence, shall be shielded from any insult, 
either to his person or property, excepting such as bear offices, 
either civil or military, under your present usurped government, of 
whom it will be further required that they shall give proofs of their 
penitence and voluntary submission: and they shall then partake of 
the like immunity. 

Those whose folly and obstinacy may slight this favorable warn- 
ing, must take notice that they are not to expect a continuance of 
that leniency which their inveteracy would now render blamable. 

Given on board his Majesty's ship, Camilla, on the Sound, July 
4, 1779- George Collier. 

William Tryon. 

The following letter from General Parsons to Thomas Mum- 
ford of Groton relates to the conduct of the enemy during 
Tryon's raid: — 

Highlands, July 20, 1779. 

Mv DEAR Sir. — The constant fatigue and close application to 
business which I have necessarily been subjected to for ten days 
past has prevented my answering your two last kind letters till this 
time; but having last night returned to this station from the scene 
of savage barbarity committed by Britons on our coast, I take this 
early opportunity to return you my sincere thanks for the expres- 
sions of kindness and friendship in your two last, and if I have in 
any degree merited your good opinion, I hope no part of my future 
conduct will give you occasion to alter it. I am sorry my young 
friend has quitted his rank in the Line ; I believe he might still have 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 257 

the appointment, but how far he would be willing to serve without 
rank and with only the additional staff pay his own feelings will 
best decide. I shall for the present command the Connecticut 
Division and will not make the appointment of ray Aid until I hear 
again from you. 

Your repeated acts of kindness make me blush upon every new 
tender of services or presents ; but a turtle will overcome the 
modesty of almost any person ; Fairfield is a place from which I can 
procure anything. 

The scandalous savage conduct of Britons in their late descents 
on the coast exceeds description. I have taken measures to ascer- 
tain the principal facts at the several places they have visited. At 
Norwalk they have not perpetrated any considerable number of acts 
of cruelty on the persons of the inhabitants. They were opposed 
from their first progress to the town until their re-embarkation, and 
their retreat was rapid and precipitate after burning the greatest 
part of the town. Our force did not exceed 1000 men; the enemy 
between 2000 & 3000, yet in every instance where we attacked, 
the enemy fled ; this left them no time to plunder or offer much insult 
to the inhabitants, but enough was done to show it was want of time 
only prevented. Some of our soldiers who were killed had their 
skulls blown off after they were dead, and in one instance a soldier 
surrendered himself a prisoner after bravely defending himself a 
considerable time; they demanded his arms which he delivered; 
when he was disarmed they immediately made several thrusts with 
their bayonets, two of which entered him and badly wounded him; 
they then presented their arms to fire upon him when he broke away 
and ran under the discharge of all their pieces and has got in safely 
& likely to recover. One ball passed through his arm which he will 
lose. 

I congratulate you on our important success in taking Stony 
Point. The cannon and stores &c. have fallen into our hands with 
a garrison of five hundred men with a very trifling loss. I wish to 
hear from you whenever you have leisure. Please to present my 
affectionate regards to your son & compliments to the good girls of 
the family and believe me 

Dr. Sr. yr. much obliged friend. 
To Thomas Mumford, Groton. Sam H. Parsons. 

The British loss, according to General Tryon's report, was 
20 killed, 96 wounded and 32 missing, showing efficient work 
on the part of our troops. 



258 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Before invading Connecticut, General Tryon addressed to 
Generals Putnam and Parsons the following letter: 

New York, June 18th, 1779. 
Sir. — By one of his Majesty's ships of war which arrived here 
last night from Georgia, we have intelligence that the British forces 
were in possession of Fort Johnstone, near Charleston, the first of 
June. Surely it is time for rational Americans to wish for a reunion 
with the parent state, and to adopt such measures as will most 
speedily effect it. 

I am your very humble, obedient servant, 

Wm. Tryon, Major General. 
To Gen. Putnam, or, in his absence, to Gen. Parsons. 

The following is General Parsons' very characteristic reply, 
in the course of which he gives General Tryon a much larger 
budget of news than he was favored with by Tryon. The love 
which Parsons felt for the British and his anxiety for " a 
reunion with the parent state," appear in every line. 

Camp, Highlands, September 7th, 1779. 

Sir. — I should have paid an earlier attention to your polite letter 
of the 18th of June, had I not entertained some hope of a personal 
interview with you in your descents upon the defenseless towns of 
Connecticut, to execute your master's vengeance upon rebellious 
women and formidable hosts of boys and girls, who were induced 
by insidious proclamations to remain in those hapless places, and 
who, if they had been suffered to continue in the enjoyment of that 
peace their age and sex entitled them to expect from civilized 
nations, you undoubtedly supposed would prove the scourge of 
Britain's veteran troops, and pluck from you those laurels with which 
that fiery expedition so plentifully crowned you. But your sudden 
departure from Norwalk, and the particular attention you paid to 
your personal safety when at that place, and the prudent resolu- 
tion you took to suffer the town of Stamford to escape the con- 
flagration to which you had devoted Fairfield and Norwalk, pre- 
vented my wishes on that head. This will, I hope, sufficiently 
apologize for my delay in answering your last letter. 

By my letters from France, we have intelligence that his Catholic 
Majesty declared war against Great Britain in June last; that the 
combined fleets of France and Spain, amounting to more than sixty 
sail of the line, having formed a junction with twenty-five thou- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 259 

sand land forces, are now meditating a blow on the British domin- 
ions in Europe; and that the grand fleet of old England finds it 
very inconvenient to venture far from their harbors. In the West 
Indies, Admiral Bryon, having greatly suffered in a naval engage- 
ment, escaped with his ships in a very shattered condition, to St. 
Christopher's, and covered his fleet under the batteries on the shores, 
and has suffered himself to be insulted in the road of that island by 
the French Admiral; and Count de Estaing, after reducing the 
islands of St. Vincent and Granada to the obedience of France, 
defeating and disabling the British fleet, has sailed for Hispaniola, 
where it is expected he will be joined by the Spanish fleet in those 
seas and attack Jamaica. 

The storming your strong works at Stony Point and capturing 
the garrison by our brave troops ; the brilliant successes of General 
Sullivan against your faithful friends, the savages ; the surprise of 
Paulus Hook by Major Lee; the flight of Gen. Prevost from Caro- 
lina ; and your shamefully shutting yourselves up in New York and 
the neighboring islands, are so fully within your knowledge as 
scarcely to need repetition. 

Surely it is time for Britons to rouse from their delusive dreams 
of conquest, and pursue such systems of future conduct as will save 
their tottering empire from total destruction. 

I am, Sir, your obedient servant. 
To Major General Tryoii. Saml. H. Parsons, 

While Parsons was absent in Connecticut, a brilliant and suc- 
cessful attempt was made by General Anthony Wayne to sur- 
prise and capture Stony Point. On the night of the 15th of 
June, approaching the Fort from the rear and moving silently 
along the narrow causeway crossing the swamp, the assailants 
reached the abatis before they were discovered, and dashing 
forward with fixed bayonets regardless of the fire, were soon 
in possession of the Fort. The total loss to the British was 
over six hundred men. Unable to garrison and hold the Post, 
they abandoned it after removing the guns and stores to West 
Point. Within a few days, however, the British reoccupied it 
with a much larger force. 

About the same time. General Sullivan, with the Continental 
troops which had been gathered in the Wyoming A alley, began 
his march up the Susqueha"pna, to devastate and destroy the 
country of the hostile tribes of the Six Nations, and prevent, if 



260 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

possible, a repetition of the savage massacres of Cherry Valley 
and Wyoming. He was joined at the mouth of the Chemung 
by General James Clinton with a second division of sixteen 
hundred men which he had organized at Schenectady and 
brought down the Susquehanna by way of Otsego Lake. The 
combined force, amounting to about five thousand men, ascend- 
ing the Chemung, encountered a considerable force of British, 
Tories and Indians near the present site of Elmira. A sharp 
engagement ensued in which Sullivan was victorious. By the 
2d of September, the little army had reached the head of Seneca 
Lake where it burned the Indian villages and destroyed the 
orchards and crops. On the 14th it was marching through the 
beautiful Genesee Valley, the home of the Senecas, with its cul- 
tivated farms, gardens and orchards, indicating a considerable 
degree of civilization. All this was made a wilderness. Forty 
villages were burned with immense quantities of corn in the fields 
and in granaries. The blackened waste would have delighted 
Tryon's heart. But Sullivan had only of necessity administered 
to the Indians the medicine they had so freely dispensed to the 
whites. The effect on the Indians was not what was expected. 
While staggered by the severity of their punishment, a feeling 
of hatred was kindled among all the tribes which could only be 
satisfied by blood. 

At a Council of General Officers held July 26, 1779, General 
Washington submitted queries to its members upon which he 
asked their opinions. The following is the opinion of General 
Parsons : — 

Camp near Robinson's, July 27, 1779. 

Dear General. — The supposed strength of the enemy, and our 
own numbers and preparations, as stated by your Excellency to the 
Council, will in my opinion oblige us to adopt a defensive system, 
until our army is considerably increased in numbers and other prep- 
arations for offensive operations made. The Posts in the High- 
lands are of so much importance as ought to induce us to defend 
them at every hazard; for that purpose I suppose three thousand 
men necessary to be left at the Point and Posts dependent, if the 
army moves to any great distance. Forage for the horses and cattle 
will necessarily oblige us to remove very soon. 

I believe if the right of the army should take a position at Peeks- 
kill, and extend the left nearly to the post now occupied by General 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 261 

Glover, and wait events, it will in no measure oppose a system of 
defense; they will be perfectly safe from attack, will be easily 
furnished with necessary supplies, and be in a better situation to 
carry on a partisan war than in their present position; and can be 
ready in season to relieve the Forts in case of an attack; and 
to oppose with prospects of success any attempts which may be 
made to destroy the towns on the coast or frontier of Connecticut. 
If we can procure a sufficiency of military stores for the purpose, 
I am of opinion an attempt to dispossess the enemy of Verplancks 
and Stony Point ought to be attempted; this, if successful, would 
disgrace the British arms, animate our soldiery to greater exertions, 
and enable us to move with safety to a greater distance from West 
Point and thereby cover a larger extent of country from the enemy's 
depredations ; besides, they will be removed to so great a distance 
from the Point as to put it out of their power to make any sudden 
attack upon the Fort; if this enterprise should be undertaken, both 
sides of the river should be attempted at the same time, because the 
Post on the east side cannot be carried whilst the enemy remain 
possessed of Stony Point. In this position of the army the enemy 
can advance no part of their force to any considerable distance from 
their main army without danger of surprise, and we shall be able 
to harrass them constantly and perhaps compel them to retire still 
further. 

I cannot but lament our inability to attack their army and dis- 
possess them of New York. It appears to me of great importance 
to be effected this campaign; at the close of it a great proportion 
of our army will be disbanded, and the present state of the country 
affords little prospects of recruiting. 

It is a second attempt to dispossess the enemy of Stony 
Point which Parsons thinks should be attempted, the British 
having reoccupied the Fort immediately after Wayne dis- 
mantled and abandoned it. 

Highlands, August 3, 1779, Parsons writes to one John 
Brooks, of Stratford, in reply to a request for a copy of a 
letter from Capt. Walker, said to contain matter derogatory to 
Brooks' character : " I certainly should be unworthy the con- 
fidence of any man of honor if I should expose it, much more if 
I should give or suffer copies to be taken, and I cannot suppose 
you had considered the matter properly when you made the 
application ; " and then he assures him that he has received no 
letter of the kind referred to, but has seen a certificate sig-ned 



262 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

by Walker and directed to the " Friends of Liberty," in which 
it was asserted that some of the principal inhabitants of the 
First Society of Stratford had applied to Doctor Johnson and 
others to use their influence with the British officers to preserve 
the town from destruction, and that this was the only paper 
under Walker's hand he had seen respecting the matter ; " that 
when your name was mentioned as probably one of the signers 
to the application, I replied I was certain you were a gentleman 
of more firmness and of better principles than to be a party to 
such infamous and mischievous transactions and I am sorry to 
find myself so much mistaken." 

The following is from General Parsons to his friend, Thomas 
Mumford at Groton: — 

Redding, August 18, 1779. 

Dear Sir. — The expedition to Penobscott I feel myself much 
interested to hear the event of, and your concern must also be of 
the same kind, my son and your son-in-law being aboard the same 
fleet. I must therefore beg you to inform me the issue of that mat- 
ter if you can. The fleet which sailed from New York the first of 
August I fear has intercepted our fleet unless they had finished the 
business before their arrival. 

The West India accounts of the success of the French navy gain 
credit in our camps; if it is true, I think it more important in its 
consequences to us than any event which has taken place since the 
war; so much I believe is certain, that, or some other important 
event, has so disconcerted the measures of the enemy that they 
scarcely know what system to adopt; and all public appearances 
promise a speedy close of the war. 

But what shall we say of the internal state of our country ; every 
effort to reduce our fellow citizens to reason and a sense of their 
own true interest seems to prove abortive, and our currency almost 
destroyed amidst the greatest exertions to save it. Can nothing be 
done to remedy this evil and save from ruin those who have trusted 
the public faith. 

As to the army, they are patient under sufferings in full confi- 
dence of a final satisfaction. I believe another petition will be pre- 
sented next session praying an adjustment for the two last years 
which I am sure you will become an advocate to effect. I have wrote 
you several letters since I have received one, and imagine you was 
not at home or was too much engaged in important business to allow 
you time to write. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 263 

I have wrote Congress for leave of absence from my command for 
a few months or a discharge. If either are granted me I hope to 
see you soon. Please to present my respectful compliments to the 
young ladies of your family and to my friend Lt. Mumford and 
accept the sincere wishes for your happiness. 

From yr. obliged friend & humble servt., 

Saml. H. Parsons. 

19th. — I this moment hear the ship Trumbull has at last got to 
New London & that Capt. Hinman commands her. I wish you to use 
your influence with Capt. Hinman to keep open the third Lieuten- 
ancy of the ship for my son on his return from the cruise with Capt. 
Saltonstall. I shall write Capt. Hinman on the subject. 

This letter of August 6th, 1779, to President Jay explains 
itself. It breathes so patriotic a spirit and shows so well the 
situation of many officers of the Revolutionary Army, that it is 
given here in full. 

Sir. — I am one of the number who entered the service of my 
country in April, 1775, and have persevered to this time from 
a full conviction of the necessity of opposing the power of Great 
Britain, and securing by arms those inalienable rights which we 
hold not for ourselves only but in trust for future generations. 
With these sentiments I left the pleasures of domestic life and all 
prospects of acquiring property in a firm expectation of securing 
by arms the little I possessed and trusting in the justice of my coun- 
try and relying on the public faith plighted to me and every other 
possessor of their bills of credit, which I considered as sacred as the 
promises and covenants of individuals. I invested my all in bills of 
credit and the public loans, the better to enable me to continue in 
the service of my country without having my attention too much 
drawn to the care of improving my own estate. I early sold my real 
estate and collected my dues at the nominal value of the Bills 
in full confidence that my country would fulfill the promises made 
to those who gave credit to their money, and although I have not 
invested all my moneys in the Funds, I have not a shilling but the 
public have many times availed themselves of. 

When the various Departments have in the years 1777 and 1778 
been wholly destitute of money and in many instances almost of 
credit, I have advanced to my last shilling without interest or hope 
of reward, and received the nominal sums again when they were 



264 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

able to pay^ sometimes after six and ten months waiting which pre- 
vented my investing in the Loans the bills I owned. 

I have been concerned in no trade of any sort to increase my 
estate since the war, but have rested contented with the reflection 
that at some future period my country would do me justice by ful- 
filling their contract and paying their debt according to the nomi- 
nal value of the Bill, as was promised, in which case I should pos- 
sess a competence, with frugality, to support me in old age and 
afford that education to a numerous family which I wished to give 
them. 

But, Sir, I was greatly alarmed when I saw two days since the 
resolution of Congress of the 29th of June last, for borrowing 
20,000,000 of dollars, the 6th and 8th articles of which appear to 
me very clearly to be founded in principles which are inconsistent 
with those sentiments which I had entertained of the public faith, 
and as I apprehend strongly intimate a design not to redeem the 
Bills of Credit at their nominal value. If those are the intentions of 
Congress, I am one of the number who by placing full confidence in 
the public faith are ruined after more than four years service in the 
army, in which my constitution is greatly impaired and old age has- 
tened upon me; in which every person knows I could not add to the 
nominal value of my estate, but for two years past must have greatly 
decreased it. I am to be dismissed with the total loss of the little 
remaining part, a beggar with a numerous family of small children, 
dependent on the charity of an uncharitable and unthankful world. 
If my country fails to support her independence, I am satisfied with 
the loss of all, and shall think myself happy in not being possessed 
of anything the tyrant can take from me, but as I am firmly per- 
suaded that will not be the case, your own good sense, Sir, will 
determine the anxious feelings I must experience when I have sacri- 
ficed my health and the hopes and just expectations of my family 
to secure the liberty of my country and the ill-gotten wealth of 
my fellow citizens, and by a decree of Congress must lose my all as 
the only reward of my services. 

I do not mean, Sir, to censure the measures of Congress. I don't 
know that my inferences from these resolutions are just, and if they 
are, perhaps the measures are necessary. But as I can say with 
truth, so I hope I shall not incur censure, when I assure you I shall 
become very undeservedly a victim to the public necessity. 

Under these circumstances, Sir, justice to myself and family 
require me in the strongest manner to pay an immediate attention 
to secure my little from total loss. This I cannot do and remain in 
the public service. I therefore beg you to lay my case before Con- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 265 

gress, and if that Honorable Body design (from necessity or any 
other cause) to redeem their Bills at a discount from their nominal 
value, or not to redeem them but suffer them to die in the hands of 
their possessors, I beg them to discharge me from their service or 
grant me leave of absence to attend to my own private concerns for 
such time as they shall judge just and reasonable, or, if this will not 
consist with the public welfare, that I may be discharged from serv- 
ice. But if I may rest assured that Congress will redeem their Bills 
at the nominal value in any future period, as I began early in the 
cause and I think on good principles, so I wish to continue in my 
country's service to the close of the Dispute. As the situation of my 
affairs requires my immediate attention, if my fears are justly 
founded, I trust in the honor and justice of Congress to give an 
answer to my application in such season as will enable me to pre- 
serve myself from total ruin, which will inevitably happen if an 
answer is long delayed. 

On the same day he writes respecting the same matter to 
Colonel Atlee in Congress, (who was with him in the fight on 
Battle Hill in Greenwood Cemetery during the battle of Long 
Island), stating briefly the substance of his letter to Congress 
and asking him to see that his application receives proper atten- 
tion. " The short acquaintance with you was founded in mis- 
fortune (Atlee was taken prisoner in that battle and Parsons 
only just escaped), and as that generally begets a mutual 
friendship, I have on that presumption addressed this letter to 
you." 

Parsons' letter to Congress of August 6, having been 
referred to the Board of Treasury and having received no letter 
from the Board in reply, Parsons writes, " Camp near West 
Point, 30th August, 1779," to Mr. Canstern, of the Board, 
saying that the subject of his letter "is of a nature that any 
considerable delay may involve me in irretrievable ruin," and 
requesting his attention to the matter, begs an answer. 

August 29, 1779, General Parsons writes to Colonel Root 
in Congi'ess, acknowledging a letter from him, and stating that 
he has received no answer from the Treasury Board to his 
letter to Congress, asks him to look into the matter for him. 
He then proceeds to discuss at length the effect of the deprecia- 
tion of the currency on the army and suggests measures which 



266 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

should be taken to afford relief. In closing he refers to the 
miscarriage of the expedition to Penobscott under General 
Lovell and the heavy loss to the States of so many transports 
and ships of war. " I feel myself deeply interested in that 
event having my son there, a midshipman in the Warren. 
Wliether he is dead, a prisoner, or escaped I have not heard, but 
I have the consolation to hear he showed himself a lad of bravery 
and good conduct in several attacks made on the enemy by land 
in which he took an active part." The son referred to was his 
eldest son, William Walter, then nineteen years of age. The 
" Warren " on which he had shipped, was a United States 
frigate of 32 guns and the flag-ship of the squadron. When 
the British fleet, which had sailed from New York, August 1, 
appeared in the Penobscott River, Captain Saltonstall ran up 
the river to avoid th^ enemy, but unable to escape to shallow 
waters, he beached his ship and set her on fire. Most of his 
captains followed his example, though three or four vessels fell 
into the hands of the enemy. 

That part of Parsons' letter to Colonel Root discussing the 
eff^ect of the depreciation of the currency is given in full: — 

A matter of greater importance is the immediate occasion of my 
writing at this time, the great uneasiness, and as I conceive the very 
just complaints of the army arising from the rapid depreciation of 
the currency. The officers of the army say, and in most instances 
with truth, that they have expended their estates, have hazarded 
their lives and health and sacrificed the just expectations of their 
f ainilies for the salvation of their country ; that the depreciation 
of the money is so great they are unable to sustain the burden any 
longer; that 'tis just their wages and rations should be made good 
to them, and that such compensation should be made them as will 
in some measure make that provision for their families which their 
former business in life would have given them reason to expect if 
they had pursued it. This they say onh' puts them on a footing 
with their fellow citizens who have made their estates from the 
distresses of their country and they ought at least to be con- 
sidered as much entitled to the favors of their country as those 
who have lived at their ease and amassed estates while the country 
was distressed by the ravages of the enemy, and those, who left 
their all to oppose their progress, have sunk all their interest by 
their patience and perseverance. This is their condition and they 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 267 

are left to suffer while the war continues but without any assurance 
of future recompense adequate to their merits. 

That they have suffered in a greater degree than any other class 
of men and have exhibited an example of patience which will do 
honor to their country and themselves, is too obvious to need proof. 
Although many have left the service, I know it has been with the 
greatest reluctance and in many instances I have known them to 
lament with tears the fatal necessity which forced them from the 
army before Britain was laid at the feet of America. But, Sir, 
their sufferings are now arisen to that height that they can no 
longer endure them. They have, I believe, through the Line of 
the army applied with decency to the General Officers commanding 
wings, divisions and brigades, begging them to use their utmost 
influence with Congress for redress. We have conferred with one 
another on the subject and should have met together and petitioned 
Congress on the subject, but we liear you have it under considera- 
tion and have reason to expect a decision upon the subject soon. 
On this idea we have agreed to suspend our application for a few 
weeks that we might not wound the feelings of a man of honor 
by an application to do that which his own sense of justice and his 
liberality of sentiment would have induced him to do unsolicited; 
and we suppose the honor and justice of our country will be more 
conspicuous in voluntarily granting to the army what they deem 
just and liberal than on any previous formal claim. 

You know, Sir^ and we are conscious that we have used our 
utmost exertions to calm the fears of the army on this head, and 
instill sentiments of patriotism and respect to our Superior Council 
into the minds of all ranks of men in the army and have hitherto 
succeeded beyond our expectations. For this reason only we have 
never apjalied to Congress for any consideration to be made to us, 
and as they have made us none, but in every respect we remain 
ui3on the first establishment in 1775, when other officers have had 
their wages raised 50 per cent., we find the force of this compari- 
son stills the murmur of our officers more effectually than all other 
considerations. We have waited till we are as far sunk as our 
brethren and need the aid of Congress to save us from total ruin, 
and should not now have made the application but for the reasons 
before mentioned. 

I therefore beg you would for the honor of our country and 
Congress prevent our application by doing us that justice which we 
have a right to claim, and by such acts of liberality as will tend to 
encourage your army and render them as sure in tlieir prospects 
by continuing as by forsaking your service. I am satisfied events 



268 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

which can happen will not quiet the minds of the army more than 
three or four weeks without a joint and unanimous application. 

You will naturally ask me what are our expectations. To this 
question I can only answer as an individual, though I believe I have 
many of my sentiments. We expect, first, that our pay and all 
public encouragements granted us, rations, &c., be made as good 
to us from the first of January, 1777, as though we had been paid 
monthly in silver or gold, (the depreciation of silver and gold we 
ought to bear in common with our country) ; this, rigid justice re- 
quires and this I conceive we have an undoubted right to demand. 
Second, that you make us such liberal grants to take place at the 
close of the war, as will give us some reasonable prospects of com- 
pensation for our loss of health and business in life on which our 
families place their dependence. At that period we cannot resume 
our former business soon, and most of us never, to the same advan- 
tage as at the commencement of the war; besides the estates we have 
will be consumed in our intermediate expenses owing to the depreci- 
ation which our situation does not admit of our guarding against, 
whilst our fellow citizens are reaping the benefits of this rapid de- 
preciation and can suffer no material injury because they are still in 
business, the emoluments of which are not injured by the fluctuating 
state of our currency ; and you must be satisfied the officers in general 
were not induced to engage in service from prospects of increasing 
their estates; in my own case, (which is only a single instance of 
very many similar) I left in 1775 a profession worth two thousand 
dollars annually, for 600 dollars a year, which has never been in- 
creased to more than two-thirds the nominal sum of the annual 
profits of my jDrofession. 

I am not an advocate of half pay after the war; I know there are 
many obj ections to it, but none in my mind so great as fixing a prece- 
dent for future pensions. This may be obviated by granting a 
sum certain; this will be a sure estate and may be transferred. As 
to the grant of lands in addition, (for without money it will not 
answer the great purposes of fixing the prospects of a disbanded 
army so as to make them return to the state of good citizens), they 
will cost you very little and ought to be liberal. At present, you 
promise the general officers nothing, and to other officers nothing in 
comparison to the grants promised by the Crown last war. As to 
increasing the nominal sum of our pay during the service, I do not 
wish it, provided such assurances can be given me as renders the debt 
at the close of the war certain, so that I may consider it an estate 
on which my family can dejDend ; then pay me the whole or by install- 
ments, I don't care whether in two years or in fifteen years. I hope 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 269 

Congress will pay such attention to this subject as will prevent a 
necessity of asking what in honor and justice they ought to grant. 
I still continue in the command of the Connecticut Division of the 
army, and am not able to find a reason for which, after more than 
three years service in my present rank, I shall be put to a higher 
command with my present rank. I don't see why Congress will not 
give feathers if they can't give money. Perhaps a reason may be 
assigned. If it is an opinion that I am not entitled by rank to pro- 
motion, or am incapable of discharging the duties of a higher com- 
mand, I ought to leave the service, either that some more fit person 
of my rank may be appointed to my present command, or that those 
who are of after rank to me may not be kept back by a delicacy 
which Congress sometimes are troubled with about superseding offi- 
cers of prior appointment. I know they have not always been 
troubled with those delicate feelings. * 

Sir Henry Clinton had written Lord George Germain the 
21st of August, that further operations at the north so late in 
the season were impracticable, and his thoughts now turned on 
an expedition to South Carolina ; that Verplancks and Stony 
Points having been seized with a view to an attack upon the 
Highlands, as nothing could now be done in that quarter, they 
became of no importance and he should probably abandon them. 
These Posts were abandoned October 21st. On the 25th of the 
same month, Rhode Island was evacuated and the troops with- 
drawn to NeAv York, partly through fear of an attack from 
D'Estaing's fleet which was now on the coast, and partly as a 
measure preparatory to detaching a considerable force for the 
proposed expedition to South Carolina. On the 27th, in con- 
sequence of the evacuation of Verplancks and Stony Points, 
Parsons' Division marched down the river and went into camp 
in the vicinity of King's Ferry, as directed by the following 
Wing Orders of the 26th: — 

The Connecticut Division is to march early to-morrow morning 
and encamp at below Peekskill. The assembly to beat at half-past 
eight o'clock in the First Brigade, (Parsons') and the brigade to 
march immediately. The assembly to beat at nine o'clock in the Sec- 
ond Brigade, (Huntington's) and the troops to march as soon as 
possible. The First Brigade will halt at the village until the Second 
comes up, when they are to join and march to their new camp in 
division. 



i 



270 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The Wing Orders of the 29th read: — 

General Parsons will please to order such guards and pickets 
as may be necessary for the security of the camp between Ver- 
planck's Point and the New Bridge on the Croton River. The Con- 
necticut Division has made great proficiency in the exercises and 
maneuvers. The Major General is anxious that they not only retain 
what they have already acquired, but that they continue their en- 
deavors to complete themselves in discipline. 

The orders of the 22d had been particularly complimentary 
to the Division: — 

It is with particular satisfaction that the ]\Iajor General beheld 
the regularity and soldierlike behavior of the troops of the Connecti- 
cut Line at exercise yesterday, and he has the pleasure to acquaint 
them that the Baron Steuben, the Inspector General, publicly 
acknowledged that they have made as great proficiency in perform- 
ing the exercises and maneuvers as any troops without exception in 
the army. A few things only remain to be learned and practiced to 
make them finished soldiers, and the Major General flatters himself 
that by the attention of the officers and ready obedience of the sol- 
diers, these will be soon acquired 

While in camp at the Ferry, details were sent from the Divi- 
sion to complete the redoubts on the Heights under the direction 
of Colonel Gouvion of the Engineers, and to repair the works 
vacated by the enemy. The strictest discipline was insisted on, 
and the orders were very stringent as to the appropriation by 
the soldiers of private property and the shooting of game in 
the vicinity of camp. To secure against surprise by the enemy, 
the river was carefully watched by the guard-boats and no l)oat 
was permitted to go below the Ferry without a written pass 
from a general officer. 

The campaign of 1779 was now closed. All the British 
troops at the North, by order of the ministry, had been concen- 
trated in New York, and Washington was already preparing 
to go into winter quarters. The only achievements of the enemy 
during the year, were Tryon's two marauding expeditions and 
tlie capture of Verplancks and Stony Points, certainly not 
much to boast of, but Clinton could have done little without 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 271 

large reinforcements, and Great Britain, just at that time, had 
her hands too full at home to give much attention to the con- 
quest of her rebellious Colonies. Spain had declared war 
against her; powerful French and Spanish fleets were hovering 
about her coasts threatening invasion. Her commerce, the life- 
blood of her finances, was being preyed upon by the American 
and French cruisers. The " Serapis" and the " Countess of 
" Scarborough," while convoying a fleet of forty sail of mer- 
chantmen, were captured by John Paul Jones with the " Bon- 
homme Richard," in one of the most desperate naval engage- 
ments on record and in full view of his Majesty's dominions. 
But though in sore distress, England put forth her strength 
as was her wont in an emergency, and voted eighty-five thousand 
seamen, thirty-five thousand soldiers and one hundred million 
dollars. Such an exhibition of power and determination on the 
part of the mother country while her aff^airs were in so dis- 
ordered a condition, could not have been otherwise than depress- 
ing, but with it all America showed neither dismay nor 
discouragement. 



CHAPTER XIX 

Winter Quarters at Morristown. The Spy System of the 
Revolution. " Midshipman Billy." Parsons asks Congress 
TO Accept his Resignation. His Estate. Supervises Re- 
cruiting IN Connecticut. Condition of thk Army. 

December, 1779 — July, 1780 

By the latter part of November, 1779, Washington had com- 
pleted his arrangements for winter quarters for the army. The 
cavalry he proposed to quarter in Connecticut on account of 
the " abundance and conveniency " of forage. A brigade was 
to be stationed at Danbury for the protection of the inhabitants 
along the Sound. A sufficient garrison was to be left in the 
Highlands and a small force at the entrance of Smiths Clove. 
The main army under Washington's immediate command, was 
to be quartered near Morristown, New Jersey, where it would be 
well placed to observe the enemy in New York and to guard 
against any hostile movement. The Connecticut Division, which 
heretofore had wintered east of the Hudson, was this season to 
encamp with the main army. In accordance with this arrange- 
ment, orders were issued from Wing headquarters, November 
17 and 18, to break camp at Peekskill and begin the march 
into New Jersey. The orders of the 18th directed " the Connec- 
ticut Division to move over Hudson's River to-morrow and camp 
as near Stony Point as they can find good wood and water. 
While the army remains at Haverstraw, they are to furnish the 
Captain's guard at the ferry, and General Howe's Division the 
other guards." This movement was delayed until the 25th, 
when the Division, with General Parsons in command, crossed 
the river and encamped near Haverstraw. Upon the removal 
of Washington's headquarters from New Windsor, Gates was 
offered the command in the Highlands, but his private affairs 
demanding his attention, leave of absence was granted him at his 
request, and the command given to General Heath. This 

272 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 273 

arrangement brought Parsons' Division immediately under 
Washington's orders. November 27, the Division encamped 
for the night near Kakeat, Parsons taking up his quarters at 
Judge Cox's house. On the 28th, the march was continued to 
Ramapo, and on the 29th and 30th to Persipany (now Patter- 
son). The next day the Division marched to the grounds 
assigned it for winter quarters, situated on the slope of a high 
hill about three miles south of Morristown, where it commenced 
to build the log huts which were to shelter it during the severest 
and most trying winter experienced in any year of the Revolu- 
tion. Letters from the camp describe the sufferings of the 
troops during these dreary months from the intensity of the 
cold, the depth and frequency of the snows and the lack of food, 
clothing, shoes and blankets. 

General Putnam, the senior Major General in Connecticut, 
had up to this time been the nominal commander of the Connec- 
ticut Division, but being for the greater part of the time absent 
with the main army, the actual command had now for nearly 
eighteen months devolved on General Parsons; for, although 
Benedict Arnold, now in command at Philadelphia, ranked next 
to Putnam, his assignments had always been outside the State 
and the Division, in consequence, had never come imder his 
orders. General Putnam, in December, 1779, while on a visit 
to Hartford, was stricken with paralysis and became totally 
incapacitated, so that from this time on General Parsons was 
the Division commander by virtue of his seniority. This Divi- 
sion — the flower of Connecticut soldiery- — was not surpassed 
by any corps in the army. Its position in the general line of 
battle, as fixed by Washington's order of December 17, was 
on the left of the first line. During Parsons' absence in Con- 
necticut, the Division was commanded successively by St. Clair, 
DeKalb and Huntington, and, in the latter part of April, by 
Lafayette, who had just returned from France. In February it 
was detached to strengthen the lines in the vicinity of Elizabeth 
and Newark, where it remained until the Morristown camp was 
broken up in June, when it returned to its old quarters near 
Robinson's house in the Highlands. 

Putnam, when taken ill in December, had retired to his farm 
in Pomfret, where, amid quiet surroundings, the old General, 



I 



274 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

for whom everyone felt sympathy, had by spring so far recov- 
ered his health that he was able to walk about, and, with assist- 
ance, to write the following letter to Washington : — 

PoMFRET, May 29, 1780. 

Dear Sir. — I cannot forbear informing your Excellency by the 
return of Major Humphreys to Camp, of the state of my health 
from the first of my illness to the present time. 

After I was prevented from coming on to the Army by a stroke 
of the paralytic kind^ which deprived me in a great measure of the 
use of my right leg and arm, I retired to my plantation, and have 
been gradually growing better ever since. I have now so far gained 
the use of my limbs, especially of my leg, as to be able to walk with 
very little impediment and to ride on horseback tolerably well. In 
other respects I am in perfect health, and enjoy the comforts and 
pleasures of life with as good a relish as most of my neighbors. 
Although I should not be able to resume a command in the Army, I 
propose to myself the happiness of making a visit and seeing my 
friends there sometime in the course of the campaign. 

Not being able to hold the pen in my own hand, I am obliged to 
make use of another to express with how much regard and esteem, I 
am &c. 

P. S. — I am making a great effort to use my hand to make the 
initials of my name for the first time. 

Israel Putnam. 

It appears from the following letters that Parsons, in Decem- 
ber, was stationed ten or fifteen miles southeast of Morristown, 
probably in charge of the outposts, where he was in position to 
observe the enemy and obtain early intelligence of their move- 
ments. On the 16th, writing to General Washington from 
Meeker's house in Springfield, after reporting what he had 
learned as to affairs in New York and the extent to which illicit 
trading was carried on, he adds : — 

I believe a regular channel of intelligence can be established 
immediately to New York, but the undertaker must have it made to 
his interest to pursue so hazardous a business. I am suspicious that 
the inducements before have been a permission to trade. This 
license I am by no means at liberty to grant or even wink at, nor am 
I authorized to promise money. If your Excellency thinks it neces- 
sary to do anything in the matter, your direction shall be punctually 
attended to. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 275 

In reply to this Washington wrote as follows : — 

Headquarters at Morristown, December 18, 1779. 

Dear General. — I am fully of the opinion that those people who 
undertake to procure intelligence under cover of carrying produce 
into New York and bringing goods out in return, attend more to 
their own emoluments than to the business with which they are 
charged ; and we have generally found their information so vague and 
trifling that there is no placing dependence upon it. Besides, it 
opens a door to a very extensive and pernicious traffic. You seem to 
intimate that an advantageous channel of intelligence might be estab- 
lished by the means of money. Be pleased to make enquiry into 
this matter, and if you find proper persons for the purpose, let me 
know the terms and the sum requisite, that I may see whether it 
comes within the limits of our scanty funds in hard money, as I 
suppose that kind is meant. Be pleased to say whether that or paper 
is the object. 

I approve of the measures you have taken with the flag-boats ; and 
it is my wish that those persons, whoever they may be, who are con- 
cerned in the practice of bringing goods from New York, may be 
discovered. I am not acquainted with the laws of the State respect- 
ing the seizure of goods, but I wish you to inform yourself of them, 
and put them strictly in execution. 

I am &c.. 
To General Parsons. Geo. Washington. 

On the 23d, Parsons further reports the intelligence brought 
in by spies as to affairs in New York, and particularly in regard 
to the movements of troops and ships. On the 26th, he writes 
from Westfield, reporting information as to the size of the fleet 
and the number of men on board. This information related to 
Clinton's preparations for his southern expedition and was very 
important as affecting future operations against New York. 

Spies were employed on the most extensive scale by both sides 
during the Revolutionary War. We had in England a perfect 
corps of spies. In New York Washington maintained an 
organization throughout the war, and particularly in 1779 and 
1780, that under the guise of zealous loyalists, never failed to 
advise him instantly of any considerable movement. Many 
prominent persons within the enemy's lines, then trusted and 
lauded by the British commander and officials, and to this day 



276 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

believed to have been strong Tories, were in fact Whig spies. 
Washington's system for obtaining secret inteUigence was 
thorough and efficient, and his sources and methods were many 
and utterly unknown and unsuspected at the time, and each was 
independent of the others. The entire direction of the system, 
especially after the defection of Arnold, he retained in his own 
hands. Every prominent leader in the war had also his own 
private agents and means of obtaining information. From the 
fact of his commanding in Westchester and along the Sound 
during so large a part of the war. General Parsons had of neces- 
sity probably as much to do with the spy system and kept as 
many agents in his employ, as any other general officer except 
Washington himself ; and he was often called on by Washington, 
as in this case, for advice and assistance, and all the more con- 
fidently, perhaps, because he was an able lawyer, had been a 
prosecuting attorney and possessed a thorough knowledge of 
men. As will be seen further on, the matters submitted to him 
were frequently of the most difficult, delicate and confidential 
character. 

The following instructions to Major John Clark, Jr., which 
tell their own story, were drafted (Nov. 4, 1777) by Washing- 
ton himself for the express purpose of misleading and deceiving 
the- enemy : — 

In your next letter (for the British camp), I would have you 
mention that General Gates, now having nothing to do at the North- 
ward, is sending down a very handsome reinforcement of Conti- 
nental troops to this army, whilst he, with the remainder of them 
and all the New England and New York militia, is to make an 
immediate descent on New York, the reduction of which is confi- 
dently spoken of, (as it is generally supposed that a large part of 
Sir Henry Clinton's troops are detached to the assistance of General 
Howe) and that General Dickinson is at the same time to attack 
Staten Island, for which purpose he is assembling great numbers of 
the Jersey militia; that the received opinion in our camp is, that we 
will immediately attack Philadelphia on the arrival of the troops 
from the Northward; that I have prevailed upon the Legislative 
Body to order out two-thirds of the militia of this State for that 
purpose; that you have heard great talk of the Virginia and Mary- 
land militia coming up, and in short that the whole Continent seems 
determined to use every exertion to put an end to the war this winter ; 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 277 

that we mention the forts as being perfectly secure, having sent 
ample reinforcements to their support. 

Li the summer of 1777, John and Baker Hendricks and John 
Meeker (perhaps the same Meeker from whose house in Spring- 
field Parsons wrote his letter of December 16th to Washington), 
had been employed by Colonel Dayton to procure intelligence 
from the enemy. They were allowed to convey small quantities 
of provisions into New York and bring back a few goods, the 
better to cover their real designs. Being arrested on a charge 
of carrying on an illegal correspondence with the enemy, Wash- 
ington interposed and explained the matter to Governor 
Livingston : — 

" You must be well convinced," he wrote January 20, 1778, " that 
it is indispensably necessary to make use of these means to procure 
intelligence. The persons employed must bear the suspicion of 
being tliought inimical, and it is not in their power to assert their 
innocence, because that would get abroad and destroy the confidence 
which the enemy puts in them." 

In the spring of 1779, a spy employed by General Maxwell 
had brought in from the enemy the following series of questions 
to which he was to obtain answers : — 

1. Where is Mr. Washington and what number of men has he 
with him ? 

2. What number of cannon has Mr. Washington with him and 
what general officers? 

3. Whether there is to be a draft of the militia to join Mr. Wash- 
ington, and how the inhabitants like it.^ 

4. Whether there is any discontent among the soldiers ? 

5. Whether the inhabitants would resort to the King's standard 
provided a Post was taken in New Jersey and Civil Government 
established .^ 

6. Your account of the situation of the army with every other 
matter you can collect. 

The answers to these questions Washington drew up as though 
written by a very ignorant person, mixing up fact and false- 
hood, and transmitted them to General Maxwell with the fol- 
lowing: letter : — 



278 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Headquarters, Middlebrook, May 6, 1779. 
" I enclose you answers to the questions, which you will put into 
the hands of the spy. He may be instructed to say that he sent 
the questions to a friend of his near the camp and received from him 
the answers. This occurs to me as the most eligible plan. However, 
you will judge yourself on the occasion. I think you had better 
have them copied in an indifferent hand, preserving the bad spell- 
ing at the same time. 

The following are the answers : — 

1. Can't tell the number exactly. Some says eight thosand 
and very knowing hands ten thosands. I dont think he has 8000 
with himself besides the Jersey Brigade and another brigade which 
I hear is at Paramus. Gen. Washington keeps headquarters at Mrs. 
Wallis's house four miles from Bandbrook. 

2. There is about sixty cannon in the parks at Plukemin, and not 
more than 8 or 10 with his troops at Bandbrook Camp. The general 
officers is General Starling and Gen. Greene (Genl. Howe is at 
Philadelphia, I am told and coming on to camp) Genl. de Kalbee 
and Gen. Stubun, French Generals. Gen. Sullivan (General Gates 
I hear is ordered here) GenL Woodford, Gen. Mulimburg, Small- 
wood, Gist and one Genl. Mc Intosh. 

3. The militia all ready to come out when signals is fired, which 
is pleaced upon all places in Jersey. They seem very angry with 
the British and curse them for keeping on the war. Many of them 
brag that they wold take revenge if they could get but a good oppor- 
tunity, and General Washington to back them. 

4. I cant say theres much discontent among the sodgers tho 
their money is so bad. They get plenty of provisions, and have got 
better does now than ever they liad. They are very well off only 
for hatts. They give them a good deal of rum and whiskey, and this 
I suppose helps with the lies their officers are always telling them to 
keep up their spirits. 

five. The people talk much as they used to do — some seem to get 
tired of the war. But the rebels seem to have a great spite against 
our friends and want to get their estates. I have heard some of 
these say — they would be glad to see the Inglish again in Jersey; 
but I have heard some again say, that the Inglish come into the 
country a little while, and then leave it and get their friends into 
trouble and then they loose their estates. I dont know whether many 
would join. 

Mr. Washington's army is in three parts, two of them General 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 279 

Starling and Gen. Kables are upon the mountains over Bandbrook 
and General Sinclairs men on this side Vanwitken bridge on high 
ground. They all seem to be getting ready for something. The 
waggons at the artifishers are getting ready, and they are bringing 
in all the horses from the country — nobody knows certain what they 
are going to do. A friend who keeps always with them tells me he 
cannot tell (I must not tell you his name just now) he thinks some- 
thing very grand if it could be known he thinks for he heard a 
servant of Lord Starlings say, that he heard Lord Starling tell 
another officer that he hoped they would have New York before long 
and said the New England militia were all coming to help them. 

I would write you more but you have not given me time, remem- 
ber me to our friends in York — and dont forget to bring what I 
wrote for when you were last out. 

P L 

P. S. dont send your next letter by the same hand, for I have rea- 
son to be suspicious and would not send this by him. When he left 
he went strait to Washington's headquarters." 

A letter to Major Tallmadge of the Light Dragoons, who, on 
account of his activity, vigilance and ability, was often stationed 
near the enemy's lines, gives us an insight into Washington's 
methods : — 

New Windsor, June 27, 1779. 
Sir. — Your letter of yesterday came safe to my hands, and by the 
dragoon who was the bearer of it. I send you ten guineas for 

C r. (Culper, a spy who had been long employed in New 

York, and whose intelligence had been of great importance). His 
successor, whose name I have no desire to be informed of, provided 
his intelligence is good and seasonably transmitted, should endeavor 
to hit upon some certain mode of conveying his informations quickly, 
for it is of little avail to be told of things after they have become a 
matter of public notoriety and known to everybody. This new agent 
should communicate his signature, and the private marks by which 
genuine papers are to be distinguished from counterfeits. There is 
a man on York Island, living at or near the North River, by the name 
of George Higday, who, I am told, hath given signal proofs of his 
attachment to us, and at the same time stands well with the enemy. 
If, upon enquiry, this is found to be the case, (and much caution 
should be used in investigating the matter as well on his own account 
as on that of Higday) he will be a fit instrument to convey intelli- 
gence to me while I am on the west side of the North River, as he 



280 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

is enterprising and connected with people in Bergen County who 
will assist in forming a chain to me, in any manner they shall agree 

upon. I do not know whom H employs; but from H I 

obtain intelligence; and his name and business should be kept pro- 
foundly secret, otherwise, we not only lose the benefits derived from 
it, but may subject him to some unhappy fate. ... I wish you 

to use every method in your power, through H and others, to 

obtain information of the enemy's situation, and as far as is to be 
come at, their designs." 

In another letter to Major Tallmadge, dated Morristown, 
February 5, 1780, Washington suggests how intelligence may 
be safely communicated by the use of a sympathetic ink and a 
re-agent to make the writing visible : — 

" I send twenty guineas and two phials containing the stain and 
counterpart of the stain, for Culper Junior, which I wish you to get 
to him with as much safety and dispatch as the case will conve- 
niently admit. . . . He should avoid making use of the stain on 
a blank sheet of paper, which is the usual way of its coming to me 
This circumstance alone is sufficient to raise suspicion. A much 
better way is, to write a letter in the Tory style, with some mixture 
of family matters, and between the lines and on the remaining part 
of the sheet, to communicate with the stain the intended intelli- 
gence." 

The British resorted to similar expedients, but the large body 
of loyalists scattered through the country — practically a corps 
of spies — made it comparatively easy for them to obtain prompt 
and accurate information. All through the war, notwithstand- 
ing every effort at concealment, their knowledge of our affairs, 
both military and civil, was almost as intimate and thorough as 
our own. 

On Christmas day, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton sailed for South 
Carolina with the main body of his army, leaving New York 
in command of the Hessian General, Knyphausen. The active 
operations of the campaign were thus transferred to the South, 
and very little was left to employ the Northern army during the 
winter and spring except to keep watch and ward against the 
enemy in New York. Clinton returned North the following 
June, having compelled the surrender of Charleston and appar- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 281 

ently reduced the State to subjection. His return was probably 
hastened by secret information of the preparation of a French 
fleet and land force to attack New York. 

During the spring and summer of 1780, the term of the 
" three years men," enlisted in 1777, expired, and it became 
necessary to fill their places. General Parsons, having gone to 
Connecticut in January, writes to General Washington in 
regard to the matter, as follows : — 

Hartford, February 1. 1780. 

Dear General. — The Assembly of this State were delayed by the 
severe weather near a fortnight, and, since they have convened, have 
not taken up the subject of recruiting the army. I have applied 
to the Governor as well as to the gentlemen of the Assembly on the 
subject, and am informed that neither your Excellency nor Con- 
gress have made any representations to this State for this purpose. 
I am induced to believe that the recruiting service might be for- 
warded successfully here in a few weeks if the State settles with the 
army for their past wages in a manner satisfactory to them, of which 
there appears to me a great probability, although the settlement is 
not completed. 

Should it be your intention to have the quota of this State filled, 
I am convinced it will be necessary for your Excellency to make a 
requisition for this purpose to the Assembly, otherwise I believe no 
measures will be taken by Government for that purpose, or, if any 
are taken, they will prove ineffectual from a general belief of their 
being unnecessary. I am with the greatest esteem 

Yr. Excellency's obt. servt.. 
To General Washington. S. H. Parsons. 

Parsons during his stay in Connecticut seems to have followed 
up the matter of recruiting, for under date of February 27th, 
Captain Walker writes to Colonel Samuel B. Webb : — 

I heard General Parsons propose a plan, and such I believe he 
means to adopt in his brigade on his return to the army — that was, 
to send into this State a number of likely sergeants and some music 
under the care of some officers, and let them go from town to town, 
also among the State troops, and beat up recruits. You must be 
sensible that there are numbers of men now only waiting to know 
what is done for the army arj,d what bounty is given, to encourage 
them to enlist. 



282 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

While at his home at Redding, Connecticut, to which place 
he had moved his family in the winter of 1778-9, General Par- 
sons wrote the following interesting letter to Governor George 
Clinton of New York, proposing a scheme for the settlement of 
Western New York by the officers and soldiers of the Connecticut 
Line at the close of the war : — 

Redding, February 21, 1780. 

Dear Sir. — I find a considerable portion of the officers of the 
Connecticut Line are desirous of forming settlements in the western 
part of the State of New York at the close of the war, and have 
desired me to inform myself whether they can expect any grants 
from the State for that purpose. 

I am of the number who place their views in your State, and have 
supposed the State of New York can in no way be a greater gainer 
than by engaging a speedy settlement of their western frontier, as 
it would become a barrier to the interior settlements, appreciate the 
value of the settled part of the country, increase their commerce as 
the inhabitants are increased, and make a price for all ungranted 
lands between the exterior and interior settlements. If these should 
be the views of your State, I cannot conceive a mode promising a 
speedier completion of the views of the State than engaging as many 
soldiers by liberal grants at the close of the war as will completely 
make these settlements ; and no way promises speedier success than 
securing the soldiers then to be disbanded. If such grants are made 
to the officers as will make it their interest to secure the soldiers to 
settle there rather than in another State, you are sensible their influ- 
ence will be exerted for that purpose, and are also sensible of the 
effect their exertions will probably produce. I own I feel myself 
interested in this application as my hopes at the close of the war 
are formed on grants I hope I may be able to secure in New York. 
This is also the case of many other officers of our Line, and should 
we meet the encouragement we wish, I believe we shall be able to 
procure a great proportion, if not the greatest part of our soldiers, 
to become settlers in that region immediately on the close of the war. 

If you can spare a moment from your public concerns, I shall 
beg to know your opinion on the subject in general, and whether 
I may particularly form any expectations from your State which 
may be worth my pursuit. Your friendship in the matter will add 
to the obligations already conferred upon. Dear Sir, 

Yr. friend and humble servt., 
To Governor George Clinton. Saml. H. Parsons. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 283 

To which Governor Clinton replied as follows : — 

Albany, March 2, 1780. 
Dear Sir. — I am favored with your letter of the 21st ult. The 
Legislature of this State had at their last meeting a bill before them 
for opening a Land Office and making liberal grants to the gentle- 
men of the army. The expectation of the arrival of the French 
fleet and the necessary preparations for operating against New 
York, occasioned their rising sooner than was expected and pre- 
vented it passing into a law. Resolutions of Congress recommend- 
ing to the several States to forbear for the present establishing Land 
Offices and the granting of unappropriated lands, have prevented 
them from resuming the business. The idea of your becoming a 
citizen of this State will give me pleasure, and, be assured, Sir, that 
as far as my influence will extend, proper encouragements will be 
given to induce yourself and the other gentlemen you mention, to 
carry their intent into execution. 

I am. Sir, your most obed't servt., 
To Gen. S. H. Parsons. Geo. Clinton. 

This settlement scheme for some reason, was never carried 
into effect. It would have been an advantageous arrangement 
for the State, but it does not appear that anything further was 
done about the matter. 

Arnold seems at an earlier date to have entertained a similar 
project. On the 3d of February, 1779, Mr. Jay and the other 
delegates in Congress from New York, wrote as follows to 
Governor Clinton : — 

Major General Arnold has in contemplation to establish a set- 
tlement of officers and soldiers who have served with him in the 
present war, and to lay the necessary foundation without loss of 
time. From a desire to become a citizen of New York, he gives our 
State the preference, and now visits your Excellency to make the 
necessary inquiries, it being out of our power to give him any infor- 
mation. The necessity of strengthening our frontiers is as obvious 
as the policy of drawing the attention of the people to that quarter 
in season. Virginia, we learn, has taken the lead and already passed 
laws for laying out a district of country for settlement, and assign- 
ing farms for their own soldiers, as well as those of Maryland, Dela- 
ware and New Jersey. A strong predilection, however, prevails in 
favor of our State on account of its situation for trade, the acknowl- 



284 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

edged excellency of its Constitution and the steady and vigorous 
exertions of its government. Nothings we are persuaded, will be 
wanting for its rapid settlement and cultivation but a wise and lib- 
eral system for the distribution of the public lands. 

To you, Sir, or to our State, General Arnold can require no recom- 
mendation. A series of distinguished services entitles him to respect 
and favor. 

April 6, Parsons wrote from Redding regarding the troops, 
and again, as follows, in reply to Washington's letter of the 
12th, asking him to return to camp : — 

Redding, April 25, 1780. 

Dear General. — I was honored with your Excellency's letter of 
the 12th inst., in which I am desired to join the army as soon as I 
can make it convenient, in consequence of which I intended to have 
joined my brigade next week; but at present I am unable to under- 
take a journey, being troubled with disorders which jDrevent my 
riding any considerable distance, but I hope within ten or fifteen 
days to be able to join. 

I\Iy son has just come from New York from whence he escaped 
the 18th inst.; he says a vessel arrived there the 14th in eleven days 
from Savannah, the Master of which informs that Charleston was 
not taken when he sailed. The report in the city was, that Sir Henry 
Clinton had so far advanced as to render the conquest of that place 
almost certain, but it is whispered that he had been repulsed in two 
assaults on the town with great loss. 

The son of whom Parsons speaks, is his eldest, William 
Walter, named from his old friend and classmate, the Rev. Dr. 
William Walter, Rector of Trinity Church, Boston. "Mid- 
shipman Billy," as young Parsons was called, had not been with 
his father at Bunker Hill, in the camps at Redding and in the 
Highlands, a cadet in the Navy for a year or more, captured at 
Penobscott and imprisoned in New York, without having learned 
that eyes and ears are made to use, for very little happened in 
New York while he was a prisoner there, that he did not report 
to the General after his escape. From the letters which follow, 
it is plain that love for his enemies was not one of Billy's weak- 
nesses, but that, on the contrary, there lurked in his bosom the 
very natural, though ungodly, feeling of revenge, and that the 
General was not wholly free from sympathy with Billy's senti- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 285 

merits. Parsons seems to have been disturbed lest his son, escap- 
ing as he did, had violated his parole, and wrote the following 
letter to Doctor Walter, whom he knew to be true to his early 
friendship, notwithstanding that he had been led by church 
affinities to side with the King: — 

Redding, April 29, 1780. 

Dear Sir. — Since my last to you I have seen General Silliman and 
am happy to hear from him that the representation my son made 
me of his escape, and the motives of it were just, and that neither 
he nor his friends were under any honorary engagements for his 
continuing a prisoner, that I suppose there will be no question on 
the subject of his coming out, as those facts undoubtedly give him 
the same right to escape as any other prisoner who never had been 
paroled. 

Your message by General Silliman he delivered. In answer I 
can only say I have no desire to punish any man for a difference in 
political sentiments, but humanity sometimes requires the exercise 
of rigor and severity to compel the discharge of those duties to ene- 
mies which the laws of society seem to require. For these purposes 
I shall exercise that degree of rigor towards those who fall into my 
power as will effect the end designed and no greater. As to your 
Tory friends, the best advice I can give them is to keep out of my 
way; as to reforming them I have no expectation of it, and to pun- 
ish them I have no desire to; but my conduct will be regulated by 
theirs. If they keep off from the main land, I shall not trouble 
them, but if they continue the practice of plundering, robbing and 
manstealing, I shall endeavor to possess myself of so many of them 
as will be necessary to produce by exemplary punishment the effect 
which reason, humanity and common honesty ought to produce 
without. 

We have hitherto only followed the examples set us by Britons 
and their friends, and I shall soon be convinced whether the profes- 
sions made on your side the water are sincere. I find your boatmen 
still follow the practice of manstealing, having taken an inhabitant 
last night from Stratford and plundered his house. If the practice 
is disavowed, Mr. Sherman will be sent home. Although my son's 
resentments are high against the class of men who solicited his con- 
finement, I shall not consent to his inflicting punishment upon any 
which may fall in his power (which I think will probably not be a 
few) except the Hoyts, Capt. Oamp, Nicol, Baker, Jarvis and a few 
other persons, whom if he happens to fall in with, I believe I shall 



I 



286 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

not feel myself disposed to prevent his taking full satisfaction of in 
any way he chooses. 

I am &c., 
To Rev. William Walter. Saml. H. Parsons. 

The same day (Apr. 29th, 1780) Parsons writes to General 
Howe as follows : 

Dear General. — I have arrested Capt. Hoagland of the 2nd 
Regiment of Dragoons on the enclosed charges and beg you will 
appoint a court martial for his trial as speedily as it can be held, 
lest I should be delayed in joining my brigade, which I design shall 
not be longer than the 10th of May. . . 

My son fortunately made his escape from New York the 18th 
inst., where he had been a prisoner about a month. He brings me a 
particular state of the works in and about the city, the number of 
regiments in the city and the general state of their army, navy &c, 
in and about New York, which does not so materially differ from 
the number and condition before known to you as to need repetition ; 
another embarkation was taking place which he says he heard Mr. 
Chamier (Genl. Burgoyne's Commissary) say was designed for Can- 
ada. In the course of his imprisonment, though he received many 
civilities from some gentlemen there and from the British officers 
in the city yet the Refugees had address and influence enough 
to procure an order for his close confinement and other rigor- 
ous treatment which I think is not to be suffered from the hands 
of any man. Those persons who were immediately instrumental in 
procuring those orders will probably soon be on the coast of Long 
Island where they may be taken. I should be particularly obliged 
to you to give him an order to take the command of the small guard 
at Stamford and Horseneck when the boats are not wanted for the 
purpose of procuring intelligence, and to make incursions on to the 
Island for the sole purpose of taking off their small guards and 
seizing the persons of those refugees if they fall in his power. I 
should also esteem it a particular favor if you would enclose me an 
order to Mr. Sutton to send a boat to Hempstead Harbor and bring 
off my son's trunk of clothing which he left in the city and which 
was to be forwarded to that place. 

I am &c.. 
To General Howe. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Whether Billy succeeded in capturing any of his friends (the 
refugees who procured his confinement in New York), and mak- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 287 

ing it pleasant for them, does not appear, but the following 
letter from his father to Thomas Mumford, dated June 9, 1780, 
finds him on his way to New London to ship as a volunteer: — 

Dear Sir. — This will be handed to you by my son who has gone 
down to New London in expectation of going with Capt. Hinman. 
If Lt. Mumford obtains his discharge, I cannot expect the office in 
the ship you encouraged me he should receive if your nephew did 
not go ; if that should be the case and no place offers in the Hancock, 
I wish him to go as a volunteer with Capt. Hinman or Capt. 
Richards, with such shares as you think -fit to allow him. I cannot 
be contented to join the army and leave him at his age of life in a 
state of idleness which in all circumstances is the road to ruin. Your 
son was through town and was importuned to lodge with us, but was 
not kind enough to call. I shall tell him when I have opportunity. I 
think he did not treat me kindly. Charleston seems to be rescued 
from M. Rivington's capitulation and I hope will continue a monu- 
ment of Sir Harry's disgrace. I hope to join the army next Monday 
and soon to have the pleasure of seeing the French fleet and ourselves 
in possession of New York. I am, dear Sir, with compliments to 
your lady and family. 

Your obliged and humble servt.. 
To Thomas Mumford. Saml. H. Parsons. 

June 10, 1780. 
P. S. — I have just received yours of the 7th — am happy to hear 
the success of the Hancock and hope on the arrival of the fleet your 
fears will be dissipated. The Committee for settling accounts have 
reported and found balances due to us which are satisfactory. This 
report is accepted. The ways and means for discharging the debt 
were not reported when I left Hartford. A private who had served 
three years without a family has fifty pounds, twelve shilling and 
two pence to receive and so in proportion. ]\Iy son will go in the 
Deane or Hancock as you can best provide for him. 

Yours &c., 

Sam H. Parsons. 
Charleston is taken, the articles of capitulation I have. The 
enemy are in Jersey. 

A year later, in a letter from Lieutenant Hezekiah Rogers to 
General Parsons, dated Fairfield, June 13, 1781, we get further 
news of Billy and his doings ; and in one from the General's 



288 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

sister, dated Boston, October 1, 1781, intelligence of his arrival 
home : — 

Dear General. — I have the pleasure to inform you that this day 
I received particular and authentic intelligence of your son Billy. 
Judging that you had not heard from him, I embrace the earliest 
opportunity of transmitting to you the agreeable news. Capt. Miles 
of JNIilford informs me that he left St. Croix on the 4th of April, at 
which place he saw your son in good health. He made his escape 
from St. Eustatia. Having permission from Sir Bridges Rodney, 
by whom he was treated with politeness, to go on shore at St. Eusta- 
tia to get some clothes, a favorable opportunity presented of step- 
ping on board a vessel bound to St. Thomas. The moment he ex- 
pected to be remanded back to confinement, he readily embraced the 
only chance and happily effected his escape. From St. Thomas he 
took passage for the Island from whence Capt. Miles took his de- 
parture. He was treated with great inhumanity previous to his 
falling under the direction of Admiral Rodney, and was loaded with 
chains for seventy-two days. This severity was, however, I suppose, 
occasioned by his exertions and attempts to make his escape. He 
informed Capt. Miles that his then determinations were to go to 
Guadaloupe and get on board some armed vessel that he might have 
it in his power to retaliate for lost property and abusive treatment. 

BosTONj October 1, 1781 
My dear brother. — I have now the pleasure to inform you that 
Billy has got here safe and seems in some measure satisfied with 
the seas. I wish him to settle down in some other business and leave 
the seas entirely. He intends to go from here to Hartford by water, 
but Mr. Benedict has talked with him and can perhaps inform you 
about his intentions better than I can. 

Yours &c., 

Phebe Lane. 
To General Parsons. 

The following is from General Parsons to the British Com- 
missary General of Prisoners in New York : — 

April SO, 1780. 
Dear Sir, — A certain Mr. Booth, a refugee from this State, (Con- 
necticut) is now a prisoner with me taken by one of my guard boats 
near Long Island. By the laws of this country he must suffer capi- 
tal punishment if he is delivered to the civil authority. His father 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 289 

is a persevering Tory for whom I have no great resjiect, but he has 
preserved a consistency of conduct from the commencement of this 
contest, and (his political creed apart) is a gentleman of good char- 
acter and estate. As I am not convinced these people answer the 
best purpose by being put to death, I have agreed to hold Booth in 
my guard until the return of this flag sent by his father, when if you 
will send me Mr. Wasson or James Du Blane of the Ship Recovery 
and now confined in the Prison Ship, I will immediately order Booth 
within the enemy's Lines, otherwise I must deliver him to the civil 
magistrate. I wish to receive your answer by this flag, and also a 
more particular account of your friend, Mr. INIorris, that my appli- 
cation for his discharge may not be mistaken. I shall use my influ- 
ence with General Lincoln and my other friends for his release, and 
hope to be able to accomplish it. 

I am with sentiments of esteem and respect, 
Yr. obedt. servt. 

Saml. H. Parsons. 
To Mr. Sproat, C. G. N. P., New York. 

The investment in government securities which General Par- 
sons made of his property, instead of relieving him, as he 
expected, from all care of his private affairs, proved a source 
of endless trouble and anxiety. As the currency depreciated, 
he saw all kinds of indebtedness falling, and every kind of prop- 
erty rising, in value. He found himself, who had trusted his 
all to the Government when he entered the army, growing poor, 
while his friends who had remained in civil life, kept their 
property and engaged in trade, were growing rich. If Con- 
gress were certain to pay the face value of its obligations, he 
could wait ; but should it repudiate them, as its recent action led 
him to fear, his family must be reduced to penur3\ To save 
them was his first duty, and he must act quickly in order to 
presence the remnant of his fortune. Under these circum- 
stances, he again writes. May 30, 1780, to President Jay and 
encloses his resignation. He states that his letter of August 6, 
1779, in which he explained to Congress his peculiar situation, 
was referred to the Board of Treasury, but had not been 
answered; that the assurances given soon after by Congress 
that the States were able to pay their bills of credit in full and 
would do so at some future period, had satisfied him, believing 
that he could have no higher assurance than the faith of the 



290 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

government plighted a second time. He then speaks of his dis- 
appointment at finding by the resolution of Congress of March 
last, that instead of receiving his bills in full, he is to expect 
only one-fortieth part, and of its injurious effect upon himself. 

" I do not mean, Sir," he says, " by enumerating these things to 
arraign the measures of Congress or to draw in question the justice 
of their last resolution. However public necessity may have ren- 
dered it proper, the hardship I suffer in consequence is not alle- 
viated by this consideration. I only intend by this to show the pro- 
priety of my present request. This resolution has ruined me; at 
more than forty years of age I am left with a numerous dependent 
family to the benevolence of an ungrateful world. I think I may 
without offense say, I am a very undeserved victim to the necessity 
of the public and have no possible way left me to hope for a sup- 
port for my family but to pay an immediate attention to securing 
the scattered remains of my little fortune. I have therefore to beg 
of Congress to accept my resignation of the office of Brigadier Gen- 
eral in the army which I have held from the 9th of August, 1776, 
and I beg you to assure that Honorable Body that I retain a just 
sense of the honor they have done me in this appointment and feel 
myself heartily disposed to forward as far as my feeble efforts will 
be serviceable, every measure for the preservation of the rights of 
my country against the power of Great Britain ; but the duties I owe 
my family under my circumstances forbid my continuing longer in 
the field. Should it be consistent with the policy of Congress to 
suffer me to hold my present rank without pay or subsistence to 
enable me to take any occasional command, I should be particularly 
obliged by it, but I would not wish in this to be gratified if it will 
in any measure interfere with the general regulations meant to be 
pursued by the army." 

The resolution of Congress of March last to which Parsons 
refers, provided for the issue of the enormous sum for that time 
of two hundred millions of dollars, the effect of which was that 
forty paper dollars became worth only one in specie, and the 
holders of government securities, should they be paid in paper, 
would receive one-fortieth part of the debt due them. The 
only reply Congress seems to have made to his request, was to 
promote him the following October to the position of Major 
General. His services were too valuable to permit of his 
resignation. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 291 

An unpublished letter from General Parsons to his wife, dated, 
Groton, February 24), 1779, written while he was in command 
at New London and expecting an attack at any time from the 
enemy on Long Island, furnishes accurate information as to the 
value of his estate at this time. 

" As the time draws near " he writes, " when I expect the arrival 
of such a force as will enable me to attack the enemy, I will improve 
this leisure to give you as particular a statement of my affairs as I 
am able, that you may collect together our little for the use of the 
family in case of misfortune. After giving Billy something, per- 
haps the value of five hundred dollars, the property must be equally 
divided between him and the other children, but the whole is to be 
improved for the support and education of the children and your 
own support as long as it is wanted for that purpose." 

The statement which he makes of his affairs, shows : — cash 
and certificates, $20,000 ; debts, wages due, lands, plate, etc., 
$5770, making a total of $25,770. Against this he shows an 
indebtedness of $13,570, leaving his net assets, $12,200. In a 
previous letter he speaks of leaving a profession in 1775 worth 
$2000, for a Colonelcy worth $600, and of having received at no 
time since he has been in the army over two-thirds that sum. 
Under these circumstances it is not surprising that he was 
anxious for the future of his family. If anyone thinks Par- 
sons unreasonable in his complaints to Congress, let him listen 
to what Washington says in a letter to Joseph Jones in Con- 
gress, dated August 13, 1780: — 

It does not require with you, I am sure, at this time of day, 
argmnents to prove that there is no set of men in the United States, 
considered as a body, that have made the same sacrifices of their 
interests in support of the common cause, as the officers of the Amer- 
ican Army ; that nothing but a love of their country, of honor, and a 
desire of seeing their labors crowned with success, could possibly 
induce them to continue one moment in service ; that no officer can 
live upon his pay ; that hundreds, having spent their little all in addi- 
tion to their scanty public allowance, have resigned because they 
could no longer support themselves as officers ; that numbers are at 
this moment rendered unfit for duty for want of clothing, while the 
rest are wasting their property, and some of them verging fast to the 
gulf of poverty and distress. 



I 



292 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

In closing his letter to his wife, Parsons says : — 

" I am in good health and experience every mark of politeness and 
respect from Mr. Mumford's family and the gentlemen here. If 
Billy is desirous of coming here, I have no objections if you can 
spare him, but don't let a word transpire to him or anyone of the 
cause. My love to him, Lucia and all our little flock and compli- 
ments to my officers." 

The outcome of Billy's visit to New London was, that he 
enlisted on the " Warren," became a midshipman in the new 
American Navy, and entered upon the plucky career of wliich 
we have had glimpses in the preceding pages. 

Springfield, June 20, 1780, Washington wrote to the Com- 
mittee Co-operation : — 

I have thought proper to send Brigadier General Parsons to the 
State of Connecticut. My orders to him will relate to collecting, 
arranging and forwarding drafts and recruits to the army. 

On the 24th, General Parsons wrote General Washington that 
he did not call at West Point because it was important to be 
with the Assembly. He speaks hopefully of the prospect of 
getting troops and says he will go to the eastern part of the 
State and be in Danbury within a week. The same day he wrote 
to a Committee of Congress, as follows : — 

Hartford, June 24, 1780. 
Gentlemen. — On my arrival at this place I waited on the Gov- 
ernor and Council and find the Assembly have ordered fifteen hun- 
dred men for the Continental Army to be drafted the first of July, 
unless sooner engaged, to serve to the first of January, and appor- 
tioned the number to be raised to the several towns ; they have also 
ordered twenty-five hundred militia to be raised by the 15th of July, 
to serve three months, and also ordered from them two State Regi- 
ments, supposed to consist of one thousand men, to join the Army. 
By letters of the second of June and one subsequent 
on this head, I have strongly remonstrated to the Council and en- 
deavored to convince them of the necessity of filling the Army, and 
have the pleasure to inform you I have good prospects of effecting 
an alteration so far as to add one thousand to the number voted for 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 293 

the Continental Army. The Council are to convene next Thursday 
on this subject and the gentlemen now present have assured me of 
their influences to effect the proposed alteration. As I pass through 
the towns of the State, I have endeavored to convince every person 
of influence I have seen of the absolute necessity of furnishing their 
men and supplies without the least delay, and I think from the pres- 
ent appearances there is very great reason to expect most of the 
men will be provided in season. The supplies required are ordered, 
and I believe will be furnished as the circumstances of the State will 
admit. I shall go to-morrow on to the eastern part of the State, and 
hope to be able to give you as flattering prospects from thence as 
I can from those parts of the State through which I have already 
passed. 

July 5, 1780, General Parsons writes by his Aid-de-Camp, 
]\Ir. Lawrence to General Howe then in command near the 
Sound, requesting a flag that he may interest Governor Franklin 
in obtaining a release of his nephew whose vessel had been cap- 
tured by an Algerine Corsair: — 

Sir. — The bearer, Mr. Lawrence, will apply to you for a flag on 
a subject interesting to my friends, which I must beg you to favor 
me with. My brother's son sailed on a Privateer, called " Civil 
Usage," from Newburyport in June, 1778, which has been supposed 
to be lost until a few weeks since. He has received a letter from a 
gentleman in Liverpool informing him that an American Privateer 
of that description was taken near the Strait's mouth in the summer 
of that year by an Algerine Corsair, and that the men are now pris- 
oners in Algiers. He has given me a letter to a friend of his in 
Gibralter, which I wish to convey to New York and also to interest 
Mr. Franklin to redeem my nephew. Under these circumstances I 
desire you will be kind enough to send me a flag. I will insert the 
name of the person I shall procure to go. I am uncertain who will 
go down. I wish to procure a man who will see Mr. Franklin; as 
'tis a matter of so much concern, I am unwilling to trust my letter 
to the ordinary mode of delivering to the Commanding Officer with- 
out some special attention to the subject. 

A Mr. Williams, a midshipman, deserted from the Pacific, whom 
I have sent to you. His motives for deserting he will be able to 
explain. He is known to sundry gentlemen of my acquaintance on 
whose fidelity I can rely. They give him a good character. A letter 
sent me on the subject I enclose. 



294 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Mr. Lawrence will attend the trial of Baldwin, confined for 
driving cattle to the enemy. I hope you will be pleased to order his 
trial at as early an hour as can be done with convenience, that Mr. 
Lawrence may return. The enemy were the night before last at the 
Quaker Meeting House in considerable force. I have not since heard 
of them. If anything of importance has occurred, I will thank you 
for a line, if you can find leisure. I hope to be able to forward one 
thousand recruits within four or five days. 

I am. Dr. Sir, &c.. 
To General Howe. Saml. H. Parsons. 

July 4, Parsons writes General Washington from Danbury 
that he has been through most of the eastern towns of the State, 
and believes the troops will be forwarded as required. And 
again, on the 10th, acknowledging Washington's letter of the 
29th of June, states that he has ordered the drafts from the 
troops of horse to join Sheldon's regiment, with the under- 
standing that they are to act as infantry unless the service 
requires more mounted men, which will be satisfactory to them 
if the dismounted dragoons are ordered to the same kind of 
service. He writes that he has made these concessions 

to avoid checking that spirit which has appeared for the preserva- 
tion of our country at this time, and so large a body as two thou- 
sand men from various parts of the State to become disgusted at 
once, would have been very detrimental to us, and the constitution 
of the Cavalry in this State exempts them from doing duty as In- 
fantry. Some unexpected delays have prevented the arrival of the 
recruits as soon as I expected, and I have sent on but two hundred, 
but from the information I have been able to procure, the greater 
part of the first draft of fifteen hundred are now on their march to 
this place, and I hope by the last of this week will be in. 

In May, 1780, the number of Continental troops north of 
Virginia did not exceed seven thousand; and in the first week 
in June, those under Washington's immediate command, present 
and fit for duty, numbered only thirty-seven hundred and sixty. 
This, certainly, was not a promising condition of affairs. To 
fill the ranks by voluntary enlistment had been found impossible. 
The zeal and activity which marked the beginning of the con- 
flict, had, to an alarming degree, given place to apathy and 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 295 

indifference ; even the French alliance was insufficient to arouse 
the people, A draft from the militia had plainly become the 
only means of recruiting the army. Since Parsons came into 
the State, his time had been fully occupied in urging prompt 
action on the part of the Assembly and the towns. His efforts, 
as we have seen, had been attended with considerable success. 
The new levies, raised to serve until the following January, 
were now rapidly coming in, and the quota of Connecticut 
promised to be filled before the opening of the campaign. 



I 



CHAPTER XX 

The Summer of 1780. Arrival of Ternay and Rochambeau. 
Arnold in Command at West Point, His Treason. Heron 
Delivers to Parsons Arnold^s Letter to Andre. Parsons' 
III Health. 

July — October, 1780 

On the tenth of July, 1780, a powerful French fleet under 
Admiral Ternay arrived in Newport Harbor, having on board 
some six thousand troops under the command of Count de Roch- 
ambeau. The expedition had been secretly fitted out at the 
instance of Lafayette, and nothing was known of it by the Amer- 
icans until his return in May. On the 17th, Lafayette left 
Headquarters with full authority to arrange plans with the 
French Commanders for future operations. In his progress to 
Newport, he called upon Governor Trumbull, General Parsons, 
Mr. Wadsworth, the Commissary General, and other persons 
in Connecticut, and used his personal efforts to engage them to 
raise and hasten forward their quota of troops and get together 
such supplies of arms and ammunition as could be spared from 
that State. 

The following letter from General Parsons to General Wash- 
ington gives an account of Lafayette's visit: — 

Danbury, July 21, 1780. 
Dear General. — The Marquis Lafayette called upon me this 
morning on his route eastward, and in conversation with him on the 
subject of procuring arms, ammunition and other supplies, he 
thought it advisable to require three or four thousand stands of 
arms to be collected in this State, lest there should be a deficiency 
in the public stores to arm all our Lines, and also to request the Gov- 
ernor and Council to furnish all the powder to be found in the State. 
I gave it as my opinion to the Marquis that as many as three thousand 
stands of arms could be taken from the militia without affecting 
those who are drafted to complete the number required of this State. 

296 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 297 

At the same time it will be attended with inconvenience which no 
person would choose to be subjected to and which necessity only 
would induce your Excellency to direct. From the best accounts 
I am able to collect, I am inclined to believe we shall have near two 
thousand troops in the field on the tenth of August, exclusive of the 
militia. I hoped before this time to have had more than twelve 
hundred, but many to me unexpected delays have happened that the 
levies yet sent do not amount to one thousand, but they are daily 
coming in and I believe those which have arrived to-day will make up 
one thousand in the whole. 

More than two thousand have arrived from Massachusetts Bay 
and I am induced to believe that the four New England States will 
have added six thousand levies to the Continental Battalions by the 
tenth of next month. If the inhabitants of the State were certain 
that New York would become the object of attack this campaign, 
I think we could have as many men as would be requested of the 
State. A number of gentlemen have proffered bringing volunteer 
companies into the field who would subject themselves to the gov- 
ernment of the army and engage in continued service until the city 
should be taken or the siege raised, unless sooner dismissed. I wish 
to know your Excellency's opinion of my encouraging this sort of 
volunteering. 

The Marquis desires your Excellency to inform me whether the 
arms he proposes to request of the Governor should be collected, or 
whether our public stores will afford a sufficiency without them. I 
believe I shall be obliged to make the tour of the State once more 
before the recruits are all collected. I find they want to be often 
reminded of their duty. Nothing on my part shall be neglected to 
forward the levies as expeditiously as possible. 

I am with the greatest respect, 

Yr. Excellency's obt. Servt., 
To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

On the 27th, Parsons reports from Redding that " a large 
fleet is gathering at Huntington and troops are being collected 
for embarkation." These were the transports intended to con- 
vey Sir Henry Clinton's troops to Newport. When on the 18th 
of July Clinton heard of the arrival of the French fleet, he deter- 
mined to attack without delay ; but the transports did not arrive 
until the 27th, when it was too late for a coup de main; never 
theless he embarked, but hearing that the French were fortifying 
Newport and the militia assembling, and finding that Washing- 



298 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ton was rapidly advancing towards New York with the intention 
of attacking the moment he sailed, he abandoned the expedition 
and crossing the Sound to Huntington Ba}", on the 31st disem- 
barked his troops. 

Clinton having apparently relinquished his designs against 
the French, Washington early in August recrossed the Hudson 
with his whole force and moved down into Bergen Count}', New 
Jersey, with the intention of attacking the upper part of New 
York Island should the opportunity present itself. In this 
movement, the Connecticut Division was assigned" the right of 
the second line. In September, the arm}' fell back towards 
Tappan, in Rockland County, New York. At this place Par- 
sons joined his Division the 17th or 18th of the month, upon 
his return from Connecticut, where he had been sent by Wash- 
ington in June to " collect, arrange and forward drafts and 
recruits for the army." During Washington's absence at Hart- 
ford to confer with Ternay and Rochambeau, General Greene 
was left in command at Tappan, and he was still in command 
when the news of Arnold's treason and flight was received. 

August 2, General Parsons wrote from his camp at Danbury, 
a long and important letter to Washington, giving the disposi- 
tion of the troops and recruits, and adds that the General 
Assembly would undoubtedly at its next session furnish addi- 
tional men. He also reports valuable information received with 
regard to the movements of the enemy on Long Island, the con- 
dition of the troops and the places where the transports were 
taking provisions. 

On the 8th Parsons writes to Colonel Alexander Hamilton, 
then acting as Aid-de-Camp to General Washington, acknowl- 
edging his letter of July 1, asking him to appoint his friend, 
Lieut. William Colefax of Washington's Life Guard on his staff, 
and says that he should be happy to oblige him, but Congress 
had made no provision for an aid to a Brigadier, and it is only 
by courtesy that he has one; and that Mr. Lawrence, of the 
artillery, has served for the last year and expects to continue 
in his family. He then comments in a sarcastic way upon the 
conduct of Congress, which 

after having removed every inducement to their service from 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 299 

pecuniary motives, seem to be alarmed lest some of us may be too 
much attached to their interest, and have for a course of years 
taken from us those motives from which honor and ambition would 
prompt us to continue the toils of a military life. Other nations 
have considered promotions as one of the modes of attaching per- 
sons to their service, but lest a doubt should remain whether the 
officers of our Army were influenced by any other motives than pure 
disinterested patriotism, they have removed all hope of preferment 
so that we now serve without pay, subsistence or hope of preferment 
or reward. I last year commanded the Connecticut Division and 
shall continue this campaign to serve in my present rank with the 
same command as the last, in the sure and certain expectation of 
saving the Continent about forty Continental dollars a month which 
they would be subjected to if, like other nations, they gave a rank 
equal to the command, but since Congress (if not the country) are 
objects of charity or at least afford great room for the exercise of 
that grace, I shall acquiesce until this campaign closes. 

In this opinion of Congress, Parsons had the hearty sym- 
pathy of Hamilton and every other officer in the army. 

Washington having, in reply to Parsons' letter of July 21, 
given it as his opinion that the enlistment of volunteer com- 
panies should be encouraged, and requested him to accept the 
offer of such when made, General Parsons wrote to Governor 
Trumbull, Danbury, August 9, 1780, that he had received the 
General's request that volunteer companies should be formed to 
assist him in his operations against New York, not to be called 
out for any other service; and that these companies be officered 
as other troops are, viz: — a captain, lieutenant and ensign to 
every fifty-six rank and file ; that he has no doubt of the hearty 
co-operation of his Excellency and the Council, and that, " if 
the measure succeeds, it will prove a substitute for the A'ery 
great deficiency of twenty-five hundred men ordered to join the 
Continental Army." He suggests " that the Governor's guards 
at Hartford and New Haven, and the independent companies 
in Norwich, Middletown, Wallingford, Pomfret and other parts 
of the State, be ordered to hold themselves in readiness to assist 
in these operations and that they be at liberty to enlist into their 
companies any number of men for this particular service." He 
finds fault with the remissness of the Council in communicatino- 
the orders in respect to forwarding the levies, and encloses 



I 



SOO LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

returns showing the backward condition of the recruiting serv- 
ice. " The Newtown Tories," he adds, " have lately been very 
insolent, destroyed the grain, fences and orchards of some of the 
Whigs, and fired into the house of a Mr. Baldwin in the night, 
one of the balls lodging in his bed. Some of them are joined 
by deserters and are said to be concealed in a part of that town 
which I shall endeavor to search thoroughly to-morrow, and will 
acquaint you with the issue." Parsons had written a few days 
before to Rev. Mr. Trumbull of North Haven, asking him to 
use his influence in raising a company to serve during the siege 
of New York, and expresses the hope " that the spirit of our 
countrymen will be manifested in a cheerful readiness to enter 
into this engagement, that the heart of our General may be 
cheered and the enemies of our country convinced that their 
secret machinations are as fruitless as open force, to compel a 
submission to that power which has sought our destruction in 
ways which would make a savage blush." 

August 10, General Parsons writes from Redding to Gen- 
eral Howe, requesting a flag for Captain Benedict to go to New 
York. On the 14th, he writes from Redding to Colonel 
Eliphalet Lockwood, taking him to task for intimating in a 
letter to the Council that certain boats under the control of 
himself and General Howe, have been engaged in illicit trade, 
and that their transactions are so secret that no man can find 
them out, and then goes on to say : — 

I wish every man who betrays a public trust was punished, but 
(to use your expression), where a matter is so secretly conducted 
that it cannot be found out or detected, it is a mystery to me to 
know how you came to a knowledge of the facts. I am morally 
certain that a trade is carried on with Long Island, and that from 
no Post in the State in so great a degree as within the limits of your 
command, and have reason to believe it .is under the countenance 
and with the approbation of some men who would wish to be thought 
endeavoring to break up the practice. I know the boats employed 
at your Post are generally suspected, and by your mode of reason- 
ing, are guilty. The persons who have procured commissions from 
the Governor by the influence and recommendation of gentlemen in 
authority belonging to Norwalk, are said to have ever been inimical 
to our cause, and there are full proofs that when they were made 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 301 

prisoners, they were discharged on bringing full evidence that they 
were Tories and in their sphere had aided Crown measures. . . . 
I am willing every suspected boat should be stopped, which would, 
I believe, stop every boat and annihilate every guard on the Coast, 
for I believe firmly there's not a guard on the Coast but 
is taxed with being concerned in the trade. I don't know with 
what truth. I wish you in future to be a little more certain before 
you use my name on these occasions, which will prevent the neces- 
sity of retracting. I am very sensible many gentlemen would wish 
the facts you mentioned were true as to me, and many others would 
wish to create suspicions of the conduct of other people to serve as 
a screen to their own transgressions. As to you personally, I don't 
remember to have heard you carried on this trade, but your guard 
is as publicly accused as any people in the State. 

In the arrangement of the army published in general orders, 
August 1, the command of the left wing was assigned to 
Major General Arnold. When it was found that he was dis- 
appointed and dissatisfied, and complaining that his wound 
would not allow him to act in the field, Washington issued the 
following order complying with his request to be stationed at 
West Point :— 

Peekskill, August 3, 1780. 

Sir. — You are to proceed to West Point and take the command 
of that Post and its dependencies, in which all are included from 
Fishkill to King's Ferry. The Corps of infantry and cavalry ad- 
vanced towards the enemy's lines on the east side of the River, will 
also be under your orders and will take directions from you; and you 
will endeavor to obtain every intelligence of the enemy's motions. 
The garrison of West Point is to consist of the militia of New 
Hampshire and Massachusetts. . . . You will endeavor to have 
the Works at West Point carried on as expeditiously as possible 
under the direction and superintendence of the Engineers. 

I am &c., 
To General Arnold. 

This order brought General Parsons for the first time within 
Arnold's military jurisdiction. At the moment, however, he 
was on special duty in Connecticut by order of General 
Washington. 

On the 15th, Parsons wrote Arnold from Danbury requesting 
that Colonel Canfield's ree-iment be ordered to Horseneck to 



I 



302 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

take the place of that of Colonel Welles, whose term of service 
had expired. On the 20th, he writes Washington respecting 
the disposition of the Connecticut troops and the willingness 
of the Assembly to furnish additional men. On the 25th he 
writes Arnold that one Walter, a seaman, can obtain valuable 
information with regard to the enemy in New York and is 
trustworthy. He asks for orders to procure a boat and form a 
regular course of intelligence by way of Long Island to New 
York, by which he may get weekly news. Walter will under- 
take this for " some certain pay in Continental money." The 
next day he reports with regard to Thomas Osborne who had 
been condemned by court-martial as a spy and advises that he 
be held a prisoner at West Point until the statements he has made 
inculpating many persons more guilty and more important than 
himself be investigated. On the 28th he again writes Arnold 
respecting a writ of prohibition which had been issued to forbid 
action by the court-martial in the case of Thomas Osborne, and 
states that the action of the court was sustained. 

September 2, 1780, Washington writes to Arnold from his 
Headquarters in Bergen County, " that the enemy are preparing 
for some important movement either against the main army or 
the Posts in the Highlands, and desires him to take every pre- 
caution and put the Posts in the best state of defense ; and that 
orders are already given for the two State regiments of Connec- 
ticut to form a junction with Colonel Sheldon." These two 
regiments had been stationed at Danbury and on the Sound 
under the command of General Parsons. 

Danbury, September 4, Parsons writes General Washington 
that at present very few recruits can be added to the army, and 
requests permission to join his brigade. He asks that the con- 
duct of Captain Sill of Colonel Warner's regiment be inquired 
into, and promises to have his troops near New Castle day after 
to-morrow. " Just as I was closing this letter," he says, " I 
received your Excellency's letter of the second instant, and 
shall join the troops near New Castle the day after to-morrow 
and pursue the directions your Excellency has given therein." 

September 5, General Parsons writes to General Arnold : — 

Dear General. — Yours of the 27th and 31st instant I duly re- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 303 

ceived with the resolution of Roger Sherman and his associates 
enclosed. 

I remember the Act of Congress you refer to enabling a general 
officer commanding on a separate, to approve sentences of Courts 
Martial, but, if I mistake not, this act is repealed. But I by no 
means consider myself under the description of these resolutions, 
being in the State of Connecticut for a special purpose only, and 
subject to your control as commanding east of the Hudson River; 
however, as I believe it best ]\Ir. Osborne should live some months, 
I have not returned the proceedings of the Court Martial in expecta- 
tion I shall see you soon. Some good has resulted from his im- 
prisonment (eight of the inhabitants of New Haven being sent to 
Simsbury Mines and a number more being candidates) and I ex- 
pect more will arrive by detaining him. 

I have just received his Excellency's orders to take command 
of the troops at New Castle and near the Lines, subject to your 
orders, and shall proceed to that place to-morrow if my health will 
permit, being now much unwell. 

The resolutions of Congress you were so kind to transmit me, I 
have carefully examined. I think I have made great demonstration 
of patience and self-denial and sacrificed my time in giving it two 
or three readings before I stamped it in the earth. Some degree 
of invention must have been allowed them to have devised measures 
so much to insult those who for years they abused in an unexampled 
manner. The cause of my country I will never forsake; 'tis a just 
and glorious cause. The virtues of our General will ever attach us 
to his fortunes. But the wretches who have crept into Congress 
are almost below contempt. Our country will never prosper in their 
hands. They will starve us in the midst of plenty. To deny us 
very obvious justice and to insult us when we require it, is left only 
for politicians of the new world. My hand shall be added to any 
representation my brethren agree to make. I think the insult should 
not be passed over in silence. 

This language concerning Congress was fully justified by its 
conduct. Rent by faction and intrigue, it was distrusted even 
by its friends. Its relations with the States were far from satis- 
factory and with the army were decidedly bad. No adequate 
provision was made by it for either the pay or supply of its 
troops. In August it threatened such an exercise of its power 
as drew from Washington the warning that if the deed were 
perpetrated, he questioned much " if there was an officer in the 



304 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

whole line that would hold a commission beyond the end of the 
campaign, if he did till then. Such an act, even in the most 
despotic governments, would be attended with loud complaints," 
The act threatened, to which Parsons refers in the foregoing 
letter, was the suspension of General Greene from his command 
in the line without proper trial. As to it Washington goes on 
to say : — " Can it be supposed that men under these circum- 
stances, who can derive at best, if the contest ends happily, only 
the advantages which accrue in equal proportions to others, 
will sit patient under such a precedent? Surely they will not; 
for the measure, not the man, will be the subject of considera- 
tion, and each will ask himself this question: If Congress by 
its mere fiat, without inquiry and without trial, will suspend an 
officer to-day, and an officer of such high rank, may it not be my 
turn to-morrow, and ought I to put it in the power of any 
man or body of men to sport with my commission and character, 
and lay me under the necessity of tamely acquiescing, or, by an 
appeal to the public, exposing matters which must be injurious 
to its interests." 

September 8th, Parsons writes that his son's return from a 
cruise necessitates his remaining a few days longer in the 
country. 

On the 14th of September, Washington wrote to General 
Arnold : — " I shall be at Peekskill on Sunday evening on my 
way to Hartford to meet the French Admiral and General. 
You will be pleased to send down a guard of a captain and fifty 
men at that time, and direct the quartermaster to endeavor to 
have a night's forage for about fort}^ horses. You will keep 
this to yourself, as I wish to make my journey a secret." This 
was Washington's last letter to Arnold. 

On the 16th, the sloop of war, " Vulture," sailed up the Hud- 
son and came to anchor within easy view of King's Ferry. On 
board was Beverly Robinson, whose mission was to aid the 
negotiations commenced in 1779 between Arnold and the British 
Adjutant General. The next day, while dining with several 
persons at his headquarters opposite West Point, once Robin- 
son's beautiful country seat, a letter from Robinson was brought 
to Arnold, who, carelessly glancing it at, mentioned to his 
guests its contents, which were nominally to ask an interview. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 305 

Colonel Lamb, one of the guests, urged him to refuse the request, 
lest it should furnish occasion for suspecting improper com- 
munications with the enemy, and exacted a promise that he 
would first submit the letter to General Washington. 

On the evening of the 18th, Arnold met Washington at King's 
Ferry, and, while crossing the river, showed him Robinson's 
letter. The " Vulture," which was in plain sight a short distance 
down the river, Washington examined through his glass. Sus- 
pecting nothing, he advised Arnold that, being Chief Com- 
mander of a Post, he could not with propriety grant Robinson's 
request for a personal interview. Arnold accompanied Wash- 
ington as far as Peekskill, and the next morning they parted 
forever. 

September 23, 1780, occurred the most startling and alarm- 
ing event of the whole war, the discovery of Arnold's " villainous 
perfidy," as Washington truly characterized it, and the capture 
of the British Adjutant General, Major Andre. The con- 
sternation it occasioned cannot be described, and the feeling of 
doubt and uncertainty to which it gave rise was not quieted until 
the full extent of the conspiracy was known. Arnold intended 
to deal the cause of Independence a crushing blow, and would 
have done so had his plans not miscarried. Washington's inten- 
tions, as Clinton understood them, were to advance with his own 
army upon the lines at Kingsbridge, while the French threatened 
New York from Long Island. The plan of the conspirators 
was, that Arnold should surrender the forts and garrison at 
West Point the instant the siege commenced. This would have 
compelled Washington to retire, and the French, left unsup- 
ported, would probably have fallen an easy prey to the enemy. 
The consequences can easily be imagined. 

Major Andre, after his capture, was taken to North Castle 
and handed over to Lieut. Colonel Jameson of Sheldon's 
Dragoons, who sent him under guard to Headquarters with a 
note to Arnold advising him of what had been done. Had he 
reached his destination, both he and Arnold would probably 
have escaped, but, as it happened. Major Tallmadge returning 
that day to North Castle, learned from Jameson the circum- 
stances of Andre's arrest and coupling them with the contents 
of a letter to Colonel Sheldon from " John Anderson," written 



306 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

on the 7th from New York, became convinced that Arnold was 
playing false and urged Jameson to recall his note and order 
Andre back to camp. The latter he consented to do, but deem- 
ing Arnold innocent, he let his note go forward. The result 
was, that the timely warning thus given enabled the traitor to 
escape to the " Vulture," and safety, while poor Andre was left 
to suffer in his stead. Andre was removed to West Point and 
thence to Tappan, where Washington convened a Board of Gen- 
eral Officers to whom he issued the following order: — 

Headquarters, Tappan, September 29, 1780. 
Gentlemen. — Major Andre, Adjutant General to the British 
Army will be brought before you for your examination. He came 
witliin our Lines in the night on an interview with Major General 
Arnold, and in an assumed character; and was taken within our 
Lines, in a disguised habit, with a pass under a feigned name, and 
with the enclosed papers concealed upon him. After a careful ex- 
amination, you will be pleased, as speedily as possible, to report a 
precise state of his case, together with your opinion of the light in 
which he ought to be considered and the punishment that ought to 
be inflicted. The Judge Advocate will attend to assist in the ex- 
amination, who has sundry other papers relative to this matter, 
which he will lay before the Board. I have the honor to be. Gen- 
tlemen, Your most obedient and humble servant, 

G. Washington. 

The board consisted of Major Generals Greene, Lord Stir- 
ling, St. Clair, Lafayette, Steuben and Howe, and Brigadier 
Generals Parsons, James Clinton, Glover, Knox, Stark, Hand, 
Huntington and the Judge Advocate, John Lawrence, all men of 
the highest character. Upon Andre's frank and full confession, 
and after due deliberation, the court, although most anxious 
to save him, unanimously reported that "Major Andre, Adju- 
tant General to the British Army, ought to be considered a spy 
from the enemy, and that agreeable to the law and usage of 
Nations, it is their opinion he ought to suffer death." The 
opinion of the court was approved by Washington on the 30th, 
and the time fixed for the execution was five o'clock in the after- 
noon of the next day. At the request of Sir Henry Clinton, 
however, who promised to present " a true state of facts," a 
short respite was granted, but the facts presented not proving 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 307 

sufficient to alter the previous determination, the execution took 
place at noon of October second. 

A singular circumstance happened in connection with Arnold's 
negotiation with Clinton, to which, so far as I know, attention 
has not yet been called. The matter is fully explained in the 
two following unpublished letters from General Parsons to 
General Washington, the one dated October 1, 1780 and the 
other undated, but probably written a few days after, to be 
found in Vol. 113 of Washington's Manuscripts, on file in the 
State Department, pages 53 and 50. 

Camp, 1st Octr., 1780. 
Dear General. — I beg you to excuse my not waiting on you with 
the enclosed letter. I am so exceedingly unwell as to be unable to 
go from my quarters; if I should recover strength enough and the 
weather should clear off serene, I will ride down to-day. The en- 
closed letter is from General Arnold, the cover and seals as they 
came to me except their being broke. You may still see the inward 
seal has not been broken. 

I am Dr. Sr. Yr. Obedt. Servt., 

Sam. H. Parsons. 

This letter is endorsed, " Octo'r. 1st, 1780, from Genl. Par- 
sons enclosing an intercepted letter from Gustavus (Arnold) 
to Mr. Anderson, Merchant in New York, and addressed to 
" His Excellency General Washington, private." 

" Dear General. — About the 27th of August last, a neighbor of 
mine showed me a letter which he received from a friend of his in 
New York, informing him that he had received the money on a debt 
due to my informant from a person lately dead, and that if he could 
procure a flag and come to New York, he would pay it to him. 
He requested my assistance in procuring a flag for the purpose. 
I accordingly wrote to General Arnold in his behalf, informing him 
that I knew the person in question to be friendly to the Country 
and of such a character that he would faithfully perform whatever 
engagements he made. General Arnold, after detaining him imtil 
the 30th of August without giving him any reasons for his detention, 
granted him a flag, and then brought from his private room the 
letter addressed to John Anderson, which has since been delivered 
to your Excellency. He informed the bearer that it was a letter 



308 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

from a friend of his which he had inspected, at the same time point- 
ing that it had been sealed with a wafer which he had broke and 
afterwards sealed with wax. This he desired the bearer to be 
careful of and deliver with his own hand if he went into New 
York, or to the commanding officer of the outpost if he did not. 
The person to whom it was committed went into New York and 
effected his business; but the extraordinary precaution which 
Arnold had used respecting the letter excited his curiosity to ex- 
amine the manner in which it was sealed, and finding the wafer had 
not been broken as Arnold had told him, he said he expected it might 
contain something illicit, and upon consulting some of his friends, 
there, concluded to bring it back again, and on the 10th of Septem- 
ber brought it and delivered it to me. It should have been forwarded 
earlier to your Excellency, but as I supposed it to refer merely to 
Commerce, I chose rather to make it a subject of private conversa- 
tion than of letter. On my arrival, your Excellency was just 
leaving camp, so that it was left to the ripening of the horrid event 
to detect this unsuspected instrument. 

I am your Excellency's Obedt. Servt., 

Sam. H. Parsons. 
To his Excellency, General Washington. 

The following is the letter from General Parsons to General 
Arnold above referred to: — 

Redding, August 28, 1780. 
Dear General. — The bearer, Wm. Heron, awaits upon you to 
request a flag for the purpose of securing a debt due him; the 
probability of eflFecting it he will convince you of. Mr. Heron is 
a neighbor of mine for whose integrity and firm attachment to the 
cause of the country I will hold myself answerable. If it will con- 
sist with the present circumstances of the army, I shall be much 
obliged to you to grant him the favor he requests. I am certain he 
will conduct with strict honor every matter he undertakes. 

I am &c., 
To General Arnold. S. H. Parsons. 

Arnold's letter to " John Anderson," delivered by Heron to 
Parsons and enclosed by him to Washington, is as follows : — 

August SO, 1780. 
" Sir. — On the 24th inst. I received a note from you without date 
in answer to mine of the 7th of July, also a letter from your house 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 309 

of the 21th of July, in answer to mine of the 15th, with a note 

from Mr. B , of the 30th July; with an extract of a letter 

from Mr. J. Osborn of the 24th. I have paid particular attention 
to tlie contents of the several letters ; had they arrived earlier, you 
should have had my answer sooner. A variety of circumstances has 
prevented my writing you before. I expect to do it very fully in a few 

days, and to procure you an interview with Mr. M e, when 

you will be able to settle your commercial plan, I hope, agreeable 

to all parties. Mr. M e assures me that he is still of opinion 

that his first proposal is by no means unreasonable, and makes no 
doubt, when he has had a conference with you, that you will close 
with it. He expects, when you meet, that you will be fully author- 
ised from your house ; that the risks and profits of the copartnership 
may be fully and clearly understood. 

A speculation might at this time be easily made to some advantage 
with ready money; but there is not the quantity of goods at market 
which your partner seems to suppose, and the number of speculators 
below, I think, will be against your making an immediate pur- 
chase. I apprehend goods will be in greater plenty, and much 
cheaper, in the course of the season; both dry and wet are much 
wanted and in demand at this juncture; some quantities are ex- 
pected in this part of the country soon. Mr. M e flatters 

himself, that in the course of ten days he will have the pleasure of 
seeing you ; he requests me to advise you, that he has ordered a draft 

on you in favor of our mutual friend S y for 300 pounds 

which you will charge on account of tobacco. I am, in behalf of 

Mr. M^ e & Co., 

Sir, your obedient humble servant, 

GUSTAVUS. 

Mr. John Anderson, Merchant. 

To the care of James Osborne, to be left at the Reverend Mr. 
Odell's, New York." 

Washington left the camp at Tappan on the morning of 
Monday, the 18th of September, for the purpose of conferring 
with Rochambeau and Ternay at Hartford as to plans for the 
campaign. Parsons, having with him the Arnold-Anderson 
letter of August 30 which he had received from Heron Septem- 
ber 10, arrived from Connecticut just as Washington was 
leaving camp, too late to deliver to him the letter. " It should 
have been," he wrote to Washington in October, " forwarded 
earlier to your Excellency, but, as I supposed it to refer merely 



310 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

to commerce, I chose to make it a subject of private conversation 
than of letter. On my arrival, your Excellency was just leav- 
ing camp, so that it was left to the ripening of the horrid event 
to detect this unsuspected instrument." What the result would 
have been had Washington received the letter before he left 
camp, is a matter of conjecture, but it is far from probable 
that any suspicion in consequence would have fallen upon 
Arnold. Such letters were not uncommon. There was nothing 
in this one which could lead any person to imagine that " John 
Anderson, Merchant," was the Adjutant General of the British 
Army, or that " Gustavus " was General Arnold. Supposing 
it to refer " merely to commerce," Parsons did not regard it of 
sufficient importance to warrant a formal communication. 
Washington would doubtless have taken the same view, and given 
it as little consideration. It was probably not until after 
Andre's trial on Friday the 29th that the real character of 
the letter became apparent, and it was on Sunday, October 1, 
that Parsons, notwithstanding his illness, enclosed the letter in 
a short note to Washington. A few days after he wrote him at 
length explaining the peculiar circumstances under which this 
" unsuspected instrument " had come into his hands. 

Strangely enough, Arnold himself had unwittingly furnished 
the clue to his " Gustavus " letter of August 30, in the follow- 
ing letter to Colonel Sheldon, commanding the outposts at 
Salem and North Castle, written in the desperate endeavor to 
bring about a meeting between himself and Major Andre, alias, 
" John Anderson," and also the means by which his intended 
treason would almost certainly have been detected, had Parsons 
on reaching Sheldon's quarters on his way to camp, been shown 
this letter as requested: — 

Robinson's House, September 10, 1780. 

Dear Sir. — I wrote Mr. Anderson on the 3d instant^ requesting 
him to meet me at your Quarters, and informed him that I had 
hinted the matter to you, and that you would send any letter to me, 
or inform me of his arrival. I did not mention his name in my 
letter to you, as I thought it unnecessary. I was obliged to write 
with great caution to him. My letter was signed, " Gustavus," to 
prevent any discovery in case it fell into the hands of the enemy. . . 

If General Parsons has arrived, I wish you to show him my letter, 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 311 

and tell him that my request is to have Mr. Anderson escorted 
to me." I am &c., 

To Colonel Sheldon. 

Parsons on the 8th was still at Redding, but was expected to 
return to camp within a few days. Arnold knew that on his 
way he would stop at Sheldon's quarters, and probably reach 
there the 11th, by which time his letter of the 10th would have 
been received. He believed that Parsons, if shown his letter, 
there being nothing suspicious or unusual about it, would direct 
Colonel Sheldon to send Mr. Anderson with an escort to West 
Point. But unfortunately for Arnold's scheme, Parsons was 
then in possession of the letter from Arnold to " John Ander- 
son," which, suspecting " something illicit," Heron had brought 
to Parsons unopened. If Sheldon had shown him Arnold's letter 
as requested. Parsons would instantly have seen that " Gus- 
tavus " was none other than Arnold himself, and that the state- 
ment made to Heron that the letter was written by a friend to 
the country, was as false as that he had opened and re-sealed 
it. The case would have been still clearer had Sheldon brought 
out Arnold's letter to him of the 7th, in which he pretends that 
he is trying to open " a channel of intelligence " through a 
person in New York ; and also the letter of the same date which 
" John Anderson " wrote him from New York, in which he says 
" he will endeavor to obtain permission to go out with a flag 
which will be sent to Dobb's Ferry the 11th, and that the 
business he has in hand is of so private a nature that the public 
on neither side can be injured by it." These four letters collated 
furnished such convincing proof of Arnold's treachery, that 
had Sheldon shown those he had received, or even only that of 
the 10th, Arnold's arrest and exposure must have immediately 
followed. Why he did not show that of the 10th, at least, is 
not apparent, unless he was absent from his quarters when 
Parsons arrived or, not having heard further from Anderson, 
thought it of no importance. Though Parsons did not arrive 
until the 16th, having been detained by the return of his son 
from a cruise, there still remained sufficient time to communicate 
with Headquarters, and the arrest could have been effected while 
crossing at King's Ferry on the evening of the 18th, if not 
before. 



312 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Parsons in his letter to Washington does not disclose the name 
of the person who delivered to him Arnold's letter to Andre, 
probably because it was done in confidence, but from a letter he 
wrote to the General in 1782 after he retired from the army, 
and a dispatch from Governor Robertson to Lord George Ger- 
main, the first published very recently by Dr. Loring. and the 
latter some years since in " Documents Relating to the Colonial 
History of the State of New York," (Vol. VIIL, page 804), 
we now know that this persons was William Heron of Redding, 
Connecticut, of whom we shall have occasion to speak more par- 
ticularly hereafter. Believed by Parsons to be " friendly to the 
country," and by Arnold too, as his caution proves, a man of 
excellent standing in his State, much trusted and wholly unsus- 
pected, the Robertson dispatch, nevertheless, on its face convicts 
him of treasonable correspondence with the enemy during this 
visit to New York, — ^on its face, for it is not impossible that he 
was merely scheming to win the confidence of the enem}^ in hopes 
of obtaining information of importance. The following extracts 
from the dispatch are given for what is said of Parsons : — 

This dispatch is entitled " Mr. Heron's Information in a con- 
versation at New York, Monday, 4th September, 1780." 

He lives at Redding in Connecticut; came in with a flag — re- 
turns this afternoon. 

He had every opportunity he could desire to be acquainted with 
the public affairs, and especially of that Colony. Till April last 
he was in the Assembly, and a member for the County Correspond- 
ence — is now in office respecting the public accounts. He ever was 
an enemy to the Declaration of Independency, but he said little, 
except to the most trusty loyalists. He stands well with the officers 
of the Continental Army — with General Parsons he is intimate, and 
is not suspected. 

He was at the interview between General Parsons and Mr. Izard, 
(Ralph Izard, of South Carolina) who arrived in Ternay's fleet and 
went on to Philadelphia. Izard has held a language that fills the 
country with jealousies. That the American Agents were duped by 
the Cabinet of France, Dr. Franklin superannuated, and all their 
agents unfaithful and despised, except the Lees. That they had 
given to France the Newfoundland fishery, and to Spain, the 
Floridas and he thought Georgia too. Whatever else of the conti- 
nent might be conquered, is to belong to the United States. He 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 313 

assured Parsons that France neither could, nor would, give the help 
requisite to establish the Independence of America. No further aid 
than what Ternay brought was coming. Whoever said there was 
deceived them. The British Navy in real strength was superior to 
the fleets both of France and Spain, and doubtless would continue 
so during the war. He did not believe they would be able to join 
this year, and the French, in that case, would be blocked up. That 
Ternay brought about 5000 land forces, and from what he had heard 
of the American Army, that aid would do little. 

General Parsons was so much aifected by this conversation, that 
immediately after Izard was gone, he wrote to General Greene at 
the camp in Jersey, beseeching him if possible to check Mr. Izard, 
from the dangerous tendency of his information upon the people 
at large. 

General Parsons lives at Redding and his particular charge is to 
forward on the eastern recruits to Washington's camp. He is 
greatly discouraged under the prevailing disinclination of the people 
to the prolongation of the war. Very lately he told Mr. Heron 
that but 800 men of the 2500 drafted in Connecticut had gone 
on. . . . The people everywhere are tired of the war, are be- 
come beggared and distressed and suspicious of private views in 
all who are for continuing it. . . . 

Washington's army, including the Highland garrison, all the three 
and six months' militia, was between ten and eleven thousand when 
he crossed the Hudson last month to Croton's River. They gave 
out they were 15,000, but Mr. Heron had his information from 
officers of rank in a confidential way. 

There was a general talk of raising men enough before the French 
arrived, who with them were to take New York. It died away upon 
the smallness of the French force and the difficulty of bringing up 
the drafted militia. Lately Washington conceived hopes from his 
project for procuring militia volunteers. He recommended sub- 
scriptions from house to house to raise bounties of hard money, to 
be paid to such as would take the field for the campaign in the re- 
duction of New York. General Parsons employed many instru- 
ments to give it success, but it was abortive. Not a single town 
would come into it. . . . [Heron speaks of the discontent and 
bad state of aff'airs in the Highlands.] He dined with General 
Arnold, who commands at Col. Beverly Robinson's house, and parted 
from him last Wednesday. (Aug. 30th.) 

Mr. Heron is confident the whole rebellion must fall soon from 
the internal weakness of the country in general, and the still greater 
weakness of the party that have hitherto fomented the troubles, who 



314 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

lose ground every day and divide from each other. All subdi- 
visions are for peace with Great Britain on the old founda- 
tion. . . . [He spoke also of the bad state of the finances and 
sees many indications of a collapse.] From his intimate knowledge 
of Connecticut, not a tenth of the inhabitants are for contending for 
Independency if assured that the Charter shall stand good. 

He hears of no magazines for provisions in any part of the Con- 
tinent. It was impossible to form any. No man will sell upon 
credit. All private contracts are made in bullion. Congress is in- 
solvent. All Departments are in debt. There is short sowing of 
the fields that there may be no surplus to be seized. 

Whether Heron asked for a flag under a false pretence, and 
whether, having detected Arnold's falsehood as to the seal he 
gave the letter to Parsons from patriotic motives or because he 
was apprehensive of trouble for himself if he delivered it as 
agreed, must be judged of in the light of his conduct in New 
York and of subsequent developments. 

Parsons' old friend and Tory classmate, William Walter, 
wrote him from Lloj^d's Neck, October 1, inquiring 

after the health of my old friend and his family, and to acquaint 
you that the household of Walter are all well. Long before this I 
had hoped that this horrid war would have had an end and that I 
should have been able to meet you and others in the opposition on 
the ground of peace and friendliness, but this happy period has not 
yet arrived. When it will is uncertain, and till it does I am con- 
tented to remain in patience, only lamenting the sad distresses which 
accrue to individuals and the public from the continuance of it. 

Congress in September, had promoted Brigadier General 
Smallwood of Maryland to a Major Generalship, superseding 
both Generals Parsons and James Clinton. The manifest fav- 
oritism and injustice of this appointment naturally created 
great indignation. It was not that Smallwood was promoted, 
but that his advancement was at the expense of his seniors in 
rank and service. In writing to Washington October 4, 
Parsons did not object to Smallwood, but to the unfairness of 
Congress, and complained that he had himself been unjustly 
neglected, having served four years as Brigadier and half the 
time commanded a division of the army. " Had the same prin- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 315 

ciples actuated the councils of our States as have been the rules 
of proceeding in other nations, I should have had the rank due 
to the command long since conferred upon me." Congress 
seems finally to have recognized this, for when during the month 
he received his promotion, Congress restored him to his rank. 

The indiscreet appointments to the army by Congress, partic- 
ularly of foreigners who were often mere adventurers, were 
responsible for much of the jealousy and ill-feeling which 
existed among the officers ; so much so that Washington was led 
to say that he wished that there was not a foreign officer in the 
arm}^ except Lafayette, who was different from all the others. 
After the removal of Gates from the Southern Army, Small- 
wood refused to serve under Baron Steuben, and threatened to 
resign unless Congress antedated his commission two years. The 
claim was too absurd to be allowed, the effect of which, as 
Washington wrote, " would be, not only to supersede the officers 
now in question, but many others, and, indeed, to derange and 
throw into confusion the rank of the whole line of Major Gen- 
erals." In 1777, Congress elected five Major Generals, Stir- 
ling, Mifflin, St. Clair, Stephen, and Lincoln, passing over 
Arnold who was their senior in rank and immensely their superior 
in military ability and experience. That each State should be 
allotted general officers in proportion to the men furnished, 
seemed to the members more important than to secure competent 
officers to command. Had Arnold been treated by Congress 
with the consideration and kindness he received from Washing- 
ton who knew his value as an officer, it is doubtful, bad as he was 
in many respects, if he would have been false to his country. 

In consequence of his five years of camp life. Parsons had, in 
a great degree, lost that vigor and buoyancy of health which 
he had enjoyed up to the time he entered the army, and his 
enfeebled constitution rendered him liable to very severe attacks 
of malarial fever. The sickness he refers to in his letter to 
Washington of October 1, was of this character, and b^^ the 
4th his fever had so increased that he was much depressed and 
very uncertain of the issue. In this condition he writes the fol- 
lowing letter to his wife: — 

Tappan, October 4, 1780. 
My Dear. — I have received one letter from you which gave great 



L 



316 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

satisfaction to me. I should be happy in having it in my power to 
write you more fully, but my strength will only permit my com- 
mitting to paper what is necessary. 'Tis the sixth day since I have 
been badly seized with a Fever which has from the first been in- 
creasing, that I am now in Doubt whether I could get home if the 
weather should be good. What the Issue will be, Time will decide. 
When the period arrives when we must bid a final Adieu, I wish it 
may be our Lot to meet our Fate with Christian Fortitude. I know 
we have a Mediator with the Father who is constantly making In- 
tercessions for the Sins of Those who believe, and on His Interces- 
sion I depend for Safety. However of this I am certain, that I 
shall be disposed of in a Manner which was designed best to Answer 
my Place in the great Scale. Give yourself no Concern for me, 
but take care of yourself and our dear children. Let them be 
brought up in the belief of revealed religion and the practice of every 
moral Virtue, without which no man can support an honest character 
here or expect future happiness. 

As to the disposition of our children (if we should now be 
separated), perhaps it will be best to know of my sisters whether 
they will take one or two of th^ girls till they have gained their 
education. Enoch I should wish to be bound to your brother or my 
brother, Lane, until twenty-one years of age. Billy and Lucia must 
add their help to assist you to live and take care of the younger 
children. I am uncertain in my own mind what to do with the 
little I have. [After suggesting what seemed under all circumstances 
to be the best disposition of his affairs in case of his death, he con- 
tinues:] My strength fails me and I must return to the bed. My 
most cordial and affectionate love for you has continued without 
abating to this time. Give my blessing to all my children and accept 
this as a Testimony of unabating love to you. 

Saml. H. Parsons. 

On the 6th Parsons wrote to General Washington from the 
camp at Tappan, asking leave to return home to his family in 
Redding on account of his severe sickness, and suggests that on 
his return to the army, he be appointed " to the command of the 
troops near New Castle and Horseneck until their service shall 
expire, which I imagine will nearly end my own." Washington 
appears to have granted his request for a leave of absence. In 
the latter part of November, he was again prostrated by a recur- 
rence of the fever, and was unable to return to camp until late 
in December. 



CHAPTER XXI 

Parsons* Promotion as Major General. Mutiny of the Penn- 
sylvania AND Jersey Lines. Morrisania Expedition. Re- 
ceives Thanks of Congress. Fairfield Investigation. His 
Dangerous Illness. Yale and Harvard Confer on Him 
A Master's Degree. 

October, 1780— May, 1781 

On the 23d of October, 1780, General Parsons received from 
Congress his well-deserved and long-delayed promotion as Major 
General in the Continental Army. He had served as Colonel 
from the Lexington Alarm until August 9, 1776, when he was 
made Brigadier General, as Division Commander since Putnam's 
disability in 1779 and during the greater part of the previous 
eighteen months, and was justly entitled to the rank due to his 
command. Wooster dead, Spencer resigned, Putnam inca- 
pacitated and Arnold a deserter. Parsons had become the highest 
officer of the line in the State, and there was no further excuse 
for delaying his advancement. November 11th, while at his 
home in Redding on sick leave, he writes Washington thanking 
him for his promotion and proposing to adjust his private affairs 
so that he can soon again join the army; and encloses an act of 
the Connecticut Legislature for filling the State's quota, " which 
if executed with spirit, I hope will have the desired succcess." 

On the 20th, while still at Redding, he again writes to 
Headquarters :- — 

Dear General. — Your favor of the l6th, I received yesterday, 
and should have returned to the Army very soon, but I have a return 
of the Ague-Fever to-day too violently to admit my entertaining 
any thoughts of doing duty in my present state. I shall so soon 
as my health is confirmed, immediately return to camp. 
I am with respect and esteem, 

Yx. Excellency's obt. servt., 

S. H. Parsons. 

31 T 



318 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Towards the end of November, the army went into winter 
quarters ; the Pennsylvania line near Morristown, the New Jer- 
sey regiments at Pompton, and the Eastern troops in the High- 
lands. Washington's Headquarters, his " dreary quarters," as 
he called them, were at New Windsor. The French remained 
at Newport, except the Duke of Lauzun's Legion, which was 
cantoned at Lebanon in Connecticut. The quarters of Parsons' 
Division were opposite West Point, just back of Constitution 
Island, about one and a half miles from the river and not far 
from the main road. It is described as advantageously situated 
between " two high mountains " — " a primitive spot quite out 
of the world." 

Congress in October, 1780, had provided for a reorganization 
of the army to take effect the 1st of January, 1781. The plan 
was to consolidate the smaller regiments, thus reducing the num- 
ber of regiments without decreasing the force in the field. The 
officers for the new regiments were to be selected from those of 
the old who desired to continue in the service, preference being 
given according to seniority. The retiring officers were to have 
half pay for life. The duty of reorganizing the Connecticut 
line devolved upon General Parsons, who had now returned to 
camp. The number of regiments composing the Division, was 
to be reduced from eight to five. Under Parsons' directions, the 
Third and Fourth Regiments were consolidated as the First ; the 
Fifth and Seventh as the Second; the Second and Ninth as the 
Third ; the First and Eighth as the Fifth and the Sixth was 
retained as the Fourth. Pursuant to the provisions of the 
resolutions of Congress, General Parsons called upon the officers 
of the Connecticut line to signify in writing whether it was their 
wish to remain in the service or to retire, hoping that " every 
officer whose age, health and circumstances will allow it, will be 
willing to continue his service to his country." Colonels Wyllys, 
Bradley, Starr and Meigs, all of whom had done excellent serv- 
ice, retired. Durkee of the old Fourth, became Colonel of the 
new First ; Swift of the Seventh, of the new Second ; Samuel B. 
Webb of the Ninth, of the new Third ; Butler of the Second, of 
the new Fourth and Sherman of the Eighth, of the new Fifth. 

December 2, General Parsons issued the following orders as 
to building huts for his men: — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 319 

The hutting ground is to be laid out for five regiments, to be 
calculated for four hundred men each. Each of said regiments is 
to appoint an officer to lay out the ground and superintend the 
building of the huts under the direction of a field officer who is to 
supervise the whole. As great uniformity and exactness as possible, 
is to be observed in arranging and building the huts, which are to 
be carried up square, not less than six feet high, with rafters nine 
feet in length from the eaves to the ridge pole. Lines are to be drawn 
within which each regiment is to get timber and firewood. 

In case of an alarm, the Division was to man the Works on 
Constitution Island and the North and South Redoubts. 

December 25, General Parsons writes from Fishkill to the 
Commander-in-Chief, asking that Lieutenants Grant and Cook, 
who, taken prisoners at Fort Washington, had now been 
exchanged, be restored to their rank in the new establishment of 
the army. January 1, he wrote to Governor Trumbull as 
follows : 

Camp in Highlands, January 1, 1781. 

Sir. — The new arrangement of the army taking place this day, 
suggests to me the idea of proposing to your Excellency the pro- 
priety of sending the invalids of our own State to New London or 
such parts of the State where they may be serviceable. We have 
in the Line six or eight officers and a considerable number of 
soldiers, who must soon be transferred to the Corps of Invalids, 
capable of doing garrison duty, but unfit for marching regiments. 
I believe mucli expense might be saved the State if they were 
stationed within it; nor can I see that Philadelphia wants guards 
half as much as New London or Simsbury, and I must believe Con- 
gress would admit of it, (at least as to our Line) on application. 
It will be necessary to know the intention of the Government soon 
on this head, as we had rather postpone the transfer a few weeks 
than the State should lose the benefit of them if they choose to 
improve them. 

I find the soldiers in general averse to receiving the lands agree- 
able to the Act of the Assembly. Their necessities are so great they 
cannot think it reasonable they should suffer the delay and probable 
loss which will attend the sale after the appraisal. Some of the 
officers will consent to the proposal and forward tlieir power to the 
committee; and as this will require some time, they desire the ap- 
praisal to proceed. If their notes of last year may be received in 



320 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

payment, many more would be glad to sign a power to receive the 

land. T . 1 1 

1 am with esteem yr. obt. servant, 

To Governor Trumbull. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Early in January, the Pennsylvania Line, encamped near 
Morristown, openly mutinied and marched toward Philadelphia, 
where Congress was in session. On the 5th, General Heath, then 
in command at West Point, wrote General Parsons, at the request 
of General Washington, asking him to communicate the facts to 
the troops through the regimental commanders, as it would be 
impossible to keep the matter long a secret, and to do it in such 
a way as to produce in them a consciousness of superior virtue 
under equal if not greater trials, and to ascertain from the 
officers if there were any indications of trouble in the Connecticut 
Line. At a council of General Officers held a few days after- 
wards, it was determined to form a provisional detachment of 
New England troops for quelling any mutiny which might 
arise. The command of this detachment was sought by Par- 
sons, and he offered to go as a volunteer if he could not have 
the command. But General Howe claimed it as his right on the 
grounds of seniority. On the 12th, Washington wrote Heath 
that " in point of right Howe ought to have it, but in point of 
policy it might be better to give it either to General Parsons or 
General Glover, and this I told him." On the 13th, Heath 
wrote to Parsons : " You may depend in case General Howe 
does not march with the detachment, that you will command it. 
It belongs to Howe of right, but at this time when the whole 
detachment is composed of Eastern troops, in a view of policy, 
I wish you would have the command;" and again on the 16th: 
"I assure that X have with you many anxious thoughts respect- 
ing the defection in the Pennsylvania Line, but by a letter I 
received from his Excellency, General Washington, the last 
evening, it seems the matter is in a train of accommodation. 
The General, however, wishes the detachment still to be held in 
readiness to march. I am pleased with your ardent desire of 
going with the troops in case they march, but I think you can- 
not with propriety go as a volunteer. You already know my 
sentiments with respect to the other." On the 14th, General 
Parsons wrote to Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth at Hartford: — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 321 

January IJ/., 17 SI. 

Dear Sir. — The news of the revolt of the Pennsylvanians will 
have reached you before you will have received this ; their subsequent 
conduct and the present state of the affair, the effect produced in 
the other Lines by this event and the general circumstances of the 
troops are matters you ought to be informed of. This defection 
seems to be a systematical affair; the mutineers have appointed their 
officers and observe the greatest order and strictest discipline. Gen- 
eral Wayne and Colonel Butler are permitted by them to remain in 
Princeton without command. General St. Clair and IMarquis De 
Lafayette were ordered to leave the town in an hour and a half on 
pain of being made prisoners. A committee of Congress is at 
Trenton and requested the troops to move to that place, but were 
informed that Princeton afforded good quarters for any gentlemen 
who had business to transact with them. They demand a discharge 
of all soldiers enlisted in 76 and 77; and those in 78 to be discharged 
at the expiration of three years ; those enlisted for the war since that 
time to serve according to the tenor of their engagements ; immediate 
payment of their wages and arrears of clothing and ample satis- 
faction for past depreciation. 

The militia of Jersey decline reducing them, because, they say, 
they have real grievances which ought to be redressed. \n the 
Jersey Line there appears so much uneasiness as not to make it 
expedient to improve them against the insurgents, and Parr's Rifle- 
men have joined them. The Committee of Congress are making 
overtures on one side, and Sir Harry Clinton on the other; these, 
however, they did not appear to incline to listen to, as they immedi- 
ately confined the emissary and his guide. Under these circum- 
stances, to the honor of the New England Lines, the soldiers in 
general highly condemn their conduct and are forming a detach- 
ment to reduce them by force. I never saw them so spirited; fur- 
loughed men refused to go out of camp; our servants begged to be 
armed and sent with the detachment, and men without coats and 
without shirts, insisted they were able and willing to be ordered on 
the command. I own I did not see a great prospect of their re- 
turning to their duty by the last accounts unless comiDclled by force, 
though General Sullivan says he thinks he shall come to an honorable 
capitulation with them, but I am unable to see what terms can be 
honorably made with them with arms in their hands. Our detach- 
ment is still ready to march, but no orders have arrived to move. 

Although on this occasion our troops have shown a proper spirit, 
yet I fear we are not long to expect it. We have six hundred men 
unfit for duty for want of proper clothing; most of them have no 



322 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

coat of any kind; they have received no money for near twelve 
months, and some are fifteen months in arrears of pay. This obliged 
them to sell their depreciated notes at whatever price anj' man will 
give for them; add to this the danger of our being wholly destitute 
of bread within a week, and no rum has found its way to camp for 
a long time past. On these unexaggerated facts, I leave you to 
draw consequences. For my own part, unless we receive some 
money and clothing immediately, and supplies of provisions are 
regularly made, and our army is completed before the campaign 
opens, I see no great success to be expected from our faint and 
half-made resistance. I believe I have as much money as any 
officer in camp, and to clearly show you our condition, I have 
counted every farthing of cash I possess in the world, and it 
amounts to eight Continental dollars and two-thirds of a dollar, 
and where or when shall I add another, I know no more than a child 
yet unborn. I am, Dr. Sir, Yr. obr. servant, 

Sam. H. Parsons. 
To Colonel Jeremiah Wadsrvorth, Hartford. 

Colonel Wadsworth replied: — 

Hartford, February 12, 1781. 
Dear Sir. — . . . The patience and fortitude of the Con- 
necticut troops, their good conduct and eagerness to reduce the re- 
volting troops would command relief from anybody but us, and I 
did hope the Council would have called on the towns immediately 
whilst their fears were up, for a sum in hard cash, as I should ex- 
pect more from their fears than their justice. The Assembly is to 
be together on the 21st instant, but what can they do, or rather what 
will they do.^ Already we are told that the people will not or can- 
not pay their taxes, and we are certain the emissaries from the enemy 
never were more successful in their schemes than at present. We 
have evidently many people here who are become cool to the cause, 
and many others who would sacrifice everything to their avarice. 
Those who boldly and freely demand justice for the Army are 
avoided and every effort is making to prevent their success. The 
next choice of Representatives will be entirely new, so much as to 
change our jDolitics for the worse; this is the dark side of the pic- 
ture. The people in general are disposed to have a vigorous cam- 
paign, a good Army and to do them justice, but the cunning, the 
weak, wicked and avaricious are, (though by no means a majority) 
ever busy and are more than a match for the honest part of the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 323 

community, but the fears of the rascally part of the community will, 
I hope, keep them down. 

Yours sincerely, 
To Major General Parsons. J. Wadsworth. 

In answer to the request that he should ascertain the senti- 
ments of the Line under his command, about which there was 
some uneasiness, General Parsons wrote to General Washington 
the following letter, which must have afforded him great 
relief : — 

Camp Highlands, January 12, 1781. 
Dear General. — The instances of firmness in the Connecticut 
Line exhibited amongst the privates since I had the honor of seeing 
you, fully convinces me of the justice of my observations yesterday 
on that subject, and I believe the same spirit pervades the whole 
line. In two instances application was made this morning for fur- 
loughs by privates who had been three years absent. The men were 
informed that the defection in the Pennsylvania Line would prob- 
ably require their attention to reduce them to their duty. They 
answered without hesitation, they had rather never see home than 
the cause of the Country should suffer by such unjustifiable con- 
duct, or that your Excellency should be in danger from that or any 
other misconduct. They went back with great cheerfulness and 
said they would never apply again until they were brought back 
to their duty. And in many instances the officers' servants have 
begged to be armed and permitted to go on this duty. From these 
circumstances and other observations, I am convinced the fullest 
confidence may in this instance, be placed in the Connecticut troops. 

I am, Dr. General, Your Obedt. Servt., 
To General Washington. Sam. H. Parsons. 

The trouble in the Pennsylvania Line was ended by a substan- 
tial compliance with the demands of the insurgents, but the 
leniency shown them only encouraged a revolt among the New 
Jersey troops. Prompt action had now become necessary, and 
on the .22d, General Howe was directed to take command of 
the detachment of Eastern troops and put down the mutiny, 
which he did in an effectual manner. The result was disappoint- 
ing, as appears from the following letter from Parsons to 
Trumbull :— 



324 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

CoNNE-CTicuT HuTS, January 31, 1781 
Sir. — In my last I informed you of the revolt of the Jersey Line, 
since which they have been surprised by the New England troops, 
laid down their arms and returned to their duty, and their leaders 
tried, condemned and shot on the parade within half an hour after 
they were delivered up. I hoped this would have ended our troubles 
of this kind, but the flame has caught and the New York troops 
refuse to do their duty till they are paid and clothed. How much 
farther they will proceed, time will unfold. I think it my duty to 
give you this early information and to assure you that I fear that 
nothing short of a sum of money very speedily furnished them will 
keep the New England Lines from following their example. 

I am &c.. 
To Governor Trumbull. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Norwich, January 24, 1781, General Jedidiah Huntington 
wrote to General Parsons : — 

I am happy in hearing the scene which opened at Morris and 
changed to Princeton, has had an issue much better than one's fears. 
Our State is slow in recruiting; they seem, however, determined to 
procure the men called for, from a conviction of the absolute neces- 
sity of the measure. Upon the tidings brought by General Knox 
respecting the Pennsylvania Line, it was moved in the Governor's 
Council to send our old soldiers a gratuity of twenty dollars each; 
but objectors arose and nothing has been done as yet. When they 
know what Massachusetts has done in the matter, I am in hopes we 
shall follow the example. T 'would have been more honorable to 
have been foremost. 

I am dear Sir, Your obedient servant. 
To Major General Parsons. J. Huntington. 

General Knox had gone to Massachusetts in the interest of 
the Massachusetts Line and was now bringing back with him 
funds for paying off the troops. Knowing this, and apprehend- 
ing serious trouble in the Connecticut Line unless the State 
made provisions for her troops before his return, General Par- 
sons wrote the following urgent letter to Governor Trumbull : — 

Highlands, February 5, 1781. 
Sir. — I was honored with your Excellency's letter of the 31st 
ult. General Knox's return before any decisive measures have been 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 325 

taken by Connecticut will be attended with unhappy effects, 
especially as he brings solid coin for paying the Massachusetts 
troops. You may, however, rest assured, that every effort will be 
used to quiet the troops which is within the compass of the remain- 
ing influence of the officers of every rank. But Sir, I ought to 
assure you of a truth in its consequences very interesting to the 
weal of the State, which is that our influence with the troops is daily 
lessening, and without the aid of the State will soon be reduced to 
nothing. It is a truth equally clear that the army has hitherto been 
kept together more by the joint influence of the officers, than from 
any other consideration, though by many, and I fear by some in 
power, they have been considered as the fomentors of disturbances 
and requited with sentiments and language injurious to their feel- 
ings as well as repugnant to facts. This notwithstanding, they will 
continue to use every measure in their power to preserve order and 
harmony in the Line; but if the State does nothing to enable them 
to preserve an influence over the soldiery, I freely own that 'tis my 
opinion very little more can be expected from it. The soldiers tell 
them plainly, " we have no doubt of your good intentions and that 
you are using every exertion in your power to see justice done us 
and make our situation comfortable, but we know your influence in 
the State is at an end, and we constantly hear you traduced and 
treated with the greatest disrespect in the country, and have, there- 
fore, little to hope from your exertions." Under these circumstances, 
I ought not to forbear informing the Council that unless some money 
is soon sent on, both to officers and soldiers, I believe it will not be 
in the power of the officers to preserve the order of the camp. I 
think it will be of good consequence to send some respectable mem- 
bers of the Council to the Line that their influence may be jointly 
exerted with the officers on this occasion. If this measure should be 
adopted, I believe the good purposes of sending them will be better 
answered by appointing to that business some gentlemen of 
acknowledged abilities who have not been generally considered so 
friendly to the feelings of the officers and soldiers as some others. 
Colonel Elderkin or Mr. Wales I believe would answer better pur- 
poses than Colonel Wadsworth, Mr. Huntington or some other gen- 
tlemen. I have not a distrust of their friendship, but the country 
wants as much conviction as the Army. We will unite our influence 
with theirs, and their report to the country will have more weight 
than from those who are supposed to go full lengths with the 
claims of the Army. . . . The New England troops are yet 
quiet, but I hav^e not a moment's peace lest they should be induced 
to tarnish their honor which they have so justly acquired by a delay 



326 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

in the State to do them some justice and relieve their present dis- 
tresses. 

I am &c.. 
To Governor Trumbull. Sam. H. Parsons. 

That part of Pennsylvania known as the Wyoming District, 
which had been largely settled by New England people, being 
claimed both by Connecticut and Pennsylvania under their re- 
spective charters, the owners of the conflicting grants of the two 
States naturally resolved themselves into two parties, each try- 
ing to oust the other. Parsons in 1774, had been one of a com- 
mittee with Roger Sherman, Governor Griswold and others, to 
aid Governor Trumbull in prosecuting the claims of Connecticut 
and in preparing the papers necessary for submitting the dispute 
to the Courts of Great Britain for settlement. He had thus 
become thoroughly familiar with, as well as much interested in, 
the matter. Knowing the jealousy which existed between the 
contending parties, and realizing the impolicy of stationing 
troops in the Valley whose interests would lead them to take 
sides with one or the other of them, thereby creating disturb- 
ances which must prove injurious in the present critical period 
of the Revolution, General Parsons, in the interest of peace, 
wrote General Washington as follows : — 

Camp in Highlands, January 10, 1781. 
Dear General. — On my return to camp I was favored with the 
Act of Congress for relieving the garrison of Wyoming, and would 
beg leave to inform your Excellency that many of the inhabitants 
of New Jersey are interested in the lands on the Susquehanna 
under the claims of Pennsylvania, and at different times have 
assisted the Pennsylvanians in their attempts to remove the New 
England settlers. This being a matter which will exceedingly affect 
the contending States, I am persuaded your Excellency would wish 
to place in that garrison officers and soldiers who will least alarm 
the jealousies of the contending parties. The New England settlers 
will have no objection to any troops from Virginia, Maryland, New 
York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay or New Hampshire, or from 
Colonel Hazen's regiment, not being citizens of Connecticut or 
Pennsylvania. Indeed, the last mentioned regiment has about 
twenty men of Schott's Corps which are at Wyoming and will be 
annexed to that regiment. Perhaps a command from Colonel Hazen's 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 327 

regiment will be as unexceptionable as from any corps in the Army. 
I have an opportunity of sending to Wyoming, and could I be able 
to inform them that the garrison is to be relieved from the Jersey 
troops, their fears will be quieted. The bearer will wait an answer 
if your Excellency pleases to favor me with one. 

I am with the greatest respect Yr. obt. servt.. 
To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

In January, 1781, General Washington, in order to protect 
the defenseless inhabitants between Greenwich and New York 
and at the same time strike a blow which would arouse a better 
spirit in the Army, directed General Parsons to take command 
of a detachment of four battalions, including the guards upon 
the lines, and, marching with secrecy and rapidity, to beat up 
the quarters and destroy the barracks and forage of DeLan- 
cey's Refugee Corps at Morrisania and Throg's Neck. Three 
battalions under Colonels Hazen, Scammel and Sherman, 
marched from the Highlands by Golden's Bridge, through Bed- 
ford to Kingstreet, while Lt. Col. Hull with the fourth battalion 
marched from the outpost at Pine's Bridge on the Croton River 
where he commanded to Youngs, both columns reaching these 
points on Sunday evening, the 21st. The column commanded 
by Hull, which was to make the attack, pushed on towards 
Kingsbridge, passing Fort Independence at one o'clock and 
halting opposite Fort Washington where a pontoon bridge 
crossed the Harlem River. Here Colonel Hull first acquainted 
his men with the object of the expedition. Leaving Major 
Maxwell to destroy the pontoon and prevent the enemy from 
crossing except by a long detour via Kingsbridge, he continued 
his march along the east bank of the Harlem, placing guards at 
Williams' and DeLancey's bridges over the Bronx, and sending 
a detachment under Captain Pritchard to attack Throg's Neck. 
The column under General Parsons, after resting a few hours 
at Kingsbridge, marched by White Plains to East Chester, 
where it was in position to observe the enemy and cover Hull's 
retreat. The expectation was to take the enemy by surprise, 
but a small creek near DeLancey's quarters was so swollen by 
the recent rains that the passage could be effected only by 
mounting the infantry behind horsemen, and the noise made in 
crossing alarmed the Post. The assault, however, was so rapid 



I 



328 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

and vigorous that it was entirely successful in its main object. 
All the barracks and a great quantity of forage gathered for use 
in New York were destroyed. Fifty-four prisoners were taken, 
a number of cattle and about sixty horses. After collecting the 
prisoners, horses and cattle, the retreat commenced. 

Hull was now eight miles inside the enemy's lines and Fort 
Lidependence was only four miles from East Chester where 
Parsons was. Half of the British Army was in his rear. The 
noise of the musketry and the light of the burning barracks had 
aroused the neighboring garrisons. Alarm guns were fired and 
rockets sent up in quick succession from all the Posts. It would 
be a miracle almost should his small force, tired out by its night 
march, escape the fresh and ever increasing foe assailing its 
rear and flanks. Crossing DeLancey's Bridge under the enemy's 
fire, thus putting the Bronx as well as the Harlem between his 
corps and the Forts, Hull marched without much interruption 
until he reached a stone church and jail. The enemy firing upon 
him from the windows of these buildings he attacked with tlie 
bayonet and released thirty-two American prisoners confined 
there. Here he was joined by Captain Pritchard who had been 
completely successful at Throg's Neck. For the last two miles 
of his retreat the skirmishing was sharp and the firing constant 
and heavy. Twice Parsons sent word that a large body of 
British were advancing from Kingsbridge and that he must 
hasten his march lest both detachments should be cut off. This 
force he directed Sherman to oppose until Hull should come up, 
and in order to relieve Hull he sent Hazen's regiment which, 
concealed behind a stone fence, by its sudden and well-directed 
fire checked the enemy's pursuit. A junction having been 
formed without further molestation, the General gave orders for 
retiring by way of New Rochelle in one column, the enemy con- 
tinuing a scattered fire and Colonel Scammel with the artillery 
covering the retreat. With a force not exceeding two thousand 
men under his command ; more than thirty miles from any part 
of the main army or other support ; both officers and men worn 
with the fatigues and hardships already encountered ; a large 
part of the British Army within five or six miles and the main 
objects of the expedition fully accomplished, General Parsons 
did not deem it prudent either to follow up the advantage secured 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 329 

by Hazen's regiment, or to attack the column advancing from 
Kingsbridge. Indeed the situation was so critical that it was 
unsafe even to halt for refreshments, and he continued his march 
through a severe storm of hail and snow until twelve o'clock 
that night. Stopping one day at Horseneck to rest his troops, 
he marched them back to their cantonments in the Highlands. 
The following are General Parsons' official reports of the 
expedition, made to Major General Heath, the Commander of 
the Department. In them Parsons gives great credit to Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Hull and his officers : — 

Horseneck, January 23, 1781. 
Dear General. — After an attempt to execute your orders, which 
was attended with as much success as an expedition which involved 
so many complicated movements could reasonably promise, we re- 
turned to Sawpits. Though in some parts the contest was warm 
and severe, we have been able to carry into execution the principal 
part of the plan. We have burned the Huts, cut away the bridge, 
and taken some prisoners and cattle. We have lost one, Lieut. 
Thompson, killed; Capt. Dorrance wounded and some privates killed 
and wounded. The troops are so exceedingly fatigued that I have 
ordered them to take this route as I could on no other road cover 
the troops in any degree comparably. I propose to move them, as 
soon as the weather will possibly permit, to Bedford, where I wish 
to halt them two days to recover a little from their fatigue before 
they march to their Huts. I hope it will not exceed Saturday before 
we arrive at our Quarters. As it is not possible to make a par- 
ticular report of the transactions at this time, I must beg your 
patience for a few days. 

I am. Sir, with respect Yr. obt. servt., 

Saml. H. Parsons. 
To Major General Heath. 

Bedford, January 2Jf, 1781. 
Dear General. — I received your favor of 22d at Horseneck this 
morning at ten o'clock, and immediately put my troops in march for 
this place with orders to reach Crompond to-morrow, which is as 
much as is possible in their fatigued situation ; and set out myself 
with an intention of being at your Quarters to-night, but find the 
snow deepening as I come on, which renders it impossible without 
fresh horses, and have therefore sent an express and will follow as 
early as possible to-morrow. In the meantime I beg you to send 
orders to halt the troo^DS at Crompond until I see you. I am, with all 



330 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the field officers, decidedly of opinion that moving our troops accord- 
ing to your present order, (from the delay heretofore made by the 
present circumstances of the troops), will be our infallible ruin. I 
would, therefore, beg of you to suspend the execution till I see you 
and give your orders accordingly. I hope to be with you before 
to-morrow noon. We are in good spirits and the little success we 
have had gives good animation to our troops. 

Yr. obt. servt.. 
To Maj. General Heath. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Highlands, January 25th, 1781. 

Dear General. — In obedience to your order I marched on the 
19th inst. from the Highlands with the battalions under my com- 
mand to destroy the Huts in Morrisania which covered the thieves 
assembled there under the direction of Col. DeLancey, and on the 
21st I arrived in Kings Street, and Lieut. Col. Hull with one bat- 
talion at White Plains, nearly at the same time. In the evening of 
the 21st, Lieut. Col. Hull took up his march from White Plains, and 
having arrived near Kingsbridge, detached Capts. Denner and Ben- 
ton with their companies to William's bridge to prevent any com- 
munication with the enemy on that road; Capt. White to DeLancey's 
bridge to occupy that pass and preserve a communication with the 
troops posted at East Chester to cover his operations and to act 
against the enemy at West Farms ; and Capt. Pritchard with his 
company and a small body of militia under Lieut. Hosier, to possess 
himself of Throg's Neck; and with the remaining troops marched 
towards Morrisania leaving a sufficient number of troops under the 
command of Major Maxwell, Capt. Dix and J. Williams, to watch 
the enemy in their redoubt No. 8, and to destroy a pontoon bridge 
over Harlem River constructed under command of that redoubt to 
keep up an easy communication with the troops at Fort Washington. 

The Huts, (destroying which was the principal object in view) 
were almost two miles below the redoubt towards the point of Mor- 
risania, and in the march Col. HuU was unexpectedly obstructed by 
the destruction of a bridge over a creek within a small distance of 
the Huts and which by the heavy rains the preceding day had been 
rendered deep and very difficult in passing; but Capt. Honniwell 
having on this occasion collected about twenty horsemen, the in- 
fantry under Capts. Fox, S. Williams and Dorrance, were passed 
over the creek by the horsemen; but so much time being necessarily 
taken up in this matter, they were discovered before they had passed 
and most of the enemy fled. The troops immediately fired all the 
Huts in that quarter and killed and took all the men who had not 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 331 

previously escaped, and on their return forded the creek (the horse- 
men not being collected at that time). 

In the meantime INIajor ]\Iaxwell succeeded in destroying the 
bridge and executed every other part of the duty assigned him with 
faithfulness and good conduct. The several detachments to Wil- 
liam's and DeLancey's bridges and on Throg's Neck succeeded 
according to my expectations, and Col. Hull and Major Maxwell 
arrived at DeLancey's bridge in season to disperse the enemy who 
had collected to seize that pass; and having joined the detachments 
under Capt. White at the bridge and that under Capt. Pritchard at 
West Chester, returned with his prisoners, cattle, horses &c. on the 
road towards East Chester. The troops under my immediate com- 
mand having arrived at the village of East Chester about half an 
hour after six in the morning, I immediately sent parties of observa- 
tion on the different roads leading to that place and detached some 
horsemen on the road to West Chester and William's bridge for 
intelligence from Col. Hull, and soon found he was retiring on 
the road from Westchester and that the enemy had collected and 
were harrassing him in his march on his flank and in his rear, on 
which I detached Col. Hazen with one hundred men with orders to 
Col. Hull to retire in the rear of Col. Hazen's command and gain 
the village of East Chester with as much expedition as the very 
fatigued state of his men would admit. Col. Hazen having posted his 
men in an advantageous and concealed place. Col. Hull retired 
according to his directions, and the enemy advanced without dis- 
covering Col. Hazen until they received a well directed fire which 
immediately scattered and dispersed them. At this instant the Brit- 
ish troops appeared in force on the road from William's bridge 
within a mile of East Chester. This obliged me to advance Col. 
Sherman with his battalion and part of Col. Scammel's troops on 
that road; the remaining troops with Col. Scammel were held in 
reserve, and I directed Col. Hazen and Lieut. Col. Hull to retire to 
East Chester that our force brought together there be united if the 
British should advance (they being at much less distance from that 
place than Col. Hazen's or Lieut. Col. Hull's detachments were). 
But on Col. Sherman taking post on the hill west of the village, the 
British troops halted and did not again advance. Col. Hazen retiring 
according to orders drew the enemy on near to East Chester when 
Capt. Kemper opened his field piece upon them so well directed as 
immediately to disperse them. Some were seen to fall and the rest 
retreated in great disorder towards West Chester. 

Having obtained the objects I had in command agreeable to your 
directions, I returned by the road through New Rochelle. 



332 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

In the course of this transaction the enemy suffered very con- 
siderably, nearly thirty being killed at the Huts and the several 
guards which were attacked in the night, and many were seen to fall 
in the various actions in the morning of the 22d, but as my orders 
were to hazard nothing after the object of this enterprise was ac- 
complished, tis imposible to give their loss with certainty. All the 
Huts and a considerable part of the forage were burned, the pon- 
toon bridge destroyed, about 120 cattle and horses driven up from 
Morrisania and fifty-four of DeLancey's Corps made prisoners. 

In justice to Lieut. Col. Hull and his officers I ought to say that 
much of the success of this enterprise is owing to the judicious 
arrangements made by him, and the fortitude and address with which 
they were executed by them ; and in the state of excessive fatigue 
of his men, the retiring through West Chester in good order and 
bringing off his prisoners near two miles under the enemy's fire until 
he was supported by Col. Hazen, does him great honor. Capt. Hon- 
niwell, who on this occasion had collected about twenty horsemen, 
was particularly serviceable. 

And I feel under great obligations to Cols. Hazen, Scammel and 
Sherman for the great assistance I received from them in making 
the necessary arrangements and the cheerfulness with which they and 
the troops under their command executed the several parts of the 
duty assigned them. 

The destruction of the Huts in a place the enemy considered as 
perfectly secure (from the protection of a redoubt and the distance 
being much greater to the only possible way of retreat than the ene- 
my's march to possess the same pass) I hope will give some relief 
to our frontiers which have suffered so much from the incursions of 
these Banditti, and shall be hapjjy if the manner in which it was 
executed should meet your approbation. 

Col. Hull's report and the returns of the killed, wounded and 
missing are enclosed. 

I have the honor to be Dear General 

Yr. obt. servt., 
To Major General Heath. S. H. Parsons. 

The following from Major Alden to Major Tallmadge is 
another account of the expedition : — 

Dear jNIajor. — ... A detachment consisting of four bat- 
talions under the command of Major General Parsons, including the 
guards upon the Lines, was formed and marched from camp the 18th 
and 19th inst. The object was to beat up and destroy the Western 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 333 

Quarters of DeLancey's Corps at Morrisania and Throg's Neck. 
The necessary arrangements being made, three battalions commanded 
by Colonels Hazen, Scammel and Sherman, under the immediate 
command of General Parsons, made their route from camp by Hait's 
over Golden's Bridge, through Bedford to Kingstreet, while Colonel 
Hull, who commanded the operating party consisting of the other 
battalions, was marching from his Quarters near Pine's Bridge to 
Young's. Both columns having arrived at these points on Sunday 
evening the 21st, Colonel Hull proceeded directly on his march to 
execute his orders, passing through Mile Square, leaving a detach- 
ment to secure William's Bridge, another to watch Fort No. 8, and 
destroy the pontoon bridge over the Harlem, the remainder to oper- 
ate against Morrisania and Throg's Neck, while the other column, 
after refreshing a few hours at Kingstreet, marched by the Plains 
to East Chester in order to secure his retreat and act as circum- 
stances might require. Colonel Hull's success exceeded our expecta- 
tions. The huts were destroyed, a number of prisoners taken, a 
considerable quantity of forage consumed, and, meeting with many 
unexpected difficulties, he discovered his military knowledge and 
good judgement in surmounting them and began his retreat over 
DeLancey's Bridge by dawn of day. General Parsons had con- 
ducted his march with so much secrecy and exactness that he arrived 
at the very moment when his assistance and counsel were wanted. 
By parties which he had sent out to learn Hull's situation, he found 
the enemy were pursuing him very closely with considerable force. 
Col. Hazen was immediately ordered with his battalion to his assist- 
ance, who took an advantageous position and by a fierce fire and 
unexpected, checked their further progress. In this situation the 
General, who was exceedingly attentive to his duty and the condition 
of the troops, discovered a body of horse and foot advancing to- 
wards East Chester and Fowler's Hill within one mile of the church. 
Col. Sherman with the battalion under his command was detached 
to secure that road and oppose the enemy till Hazen and Hull 
should have joined the main body at the church. These difficulties 
prevented the further advance of the enemy from that quarter, the 
several detachments were collected immediately, patrolling parties 
ordered upon the roads leading to Williams and Kingsbridge and 
the object of the enterprise fully accomplished, the General gave 
orders for the retiring by way of New Rochelle in one column, the 
enemy continuing a scattering fire. Col. Scammel with the artillery 
covered the retreat. 

The plan was executed with so much judgement, good order and 

■ 



334 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

exactness that great credit is due to the General for his uniform 
and military conduct. He speaks very highly of the officers under 
his command. I never heard the militia say so much in praise of 
the Continental troops for their good order and steadiness amidst 
so warm a fire. 

The General was exceedingly pleased with the conduct of the Con- 
tinental troops and many of the militia in this service, yet with 
tears he lamented the distresses of those unhappy people between 
the lines that were now increased by the promiscuous plunder of a 
set of merciless freebooters governed by no principle but avarice 
and revenge, who in all movements of this kind are followers of the 
army, and whom it is impossible to restrain, being under no control. 
This is the only stain upon the conduct of the day and those alone 
ought to bear the blame who can be guilty of actions so cruel and 
inhuman. Yours &c., 

R. Alden. 

January 25, Washington writing to General Heath, thank- 
ing him for his account of the success of the expedition against 
Morrisania, advises, " since the troops under the command of 
General Parsons appear to be so much fatigued," that Howe's 
provisional detachment (that organized to use in quelling any 
mutiny which might arise) be completed from other troops, 
and suggests that " by the address of General Parsons some 
volunteers may be obtained from the brigades on the east side of 
the River," about which he will be best able to determine when 
he sees General Parsons. 

On the 29th, Washington congratulated the Army in the 
following very complimentary terms : — 

The General is happy in congratulating this Army on the suc- 
cess of the enterprise against the enemy at Morrisania on the morn- 
ing of the 22d instant, in which, besides a number of the enemy 
who were killed, upwards of fifty were made prisoners, the huts 
and forage burned, pontoon bridge cut away and a large number 
of cattle driven off. The address and gallantry of the officers, the 
fortitude and patience of the troops, exhibited on this occasion, 
does them much honor, and while the conduct of every officer has 
merited the General's approbation, he feels himself under particu- 
lar obligations to Major General Parsons and Lieut. Colonel Hull, 
to whom he presents his particular thanks. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 335 

On the 31st, he wrote to the President of Congress, enclosing 
the reports of Parsons and Hull, and says : 

General Parsons arrangements were judicious, and the conduct 
of the officers and men employed on the occasion is entitled to the 
highest praise. The position of the Corps, two or three miles within 
some of the enemy's redoubts, required address and courage in the 
execution of the enterprise. 

The following is an extract from the Journals of Congress 
under date of February 5, 1781. 

A letter from General Washington of January 31st, 1781, en- 
closing a letter from Major General Parsons of the 25th of January, 
was received. 

Ordered. That the letter of Major General Parsons, with the 
papers enclosed, relative to his successful expedition against the 
enemy's Post at Morrisania, with so much of the General's letter as 
relates thereto, be referred to the Committee of Intelligence, and 
that the Commander-in-Chief return the thanks of Congress to 
Major General Parsons, and the officers and men under his com- 
mand, and to inform him that Congress have directed this publica- 
tion to be made in testimony of their approbation of his judicious 
arrangements, and of the spirit and military conduct displayed by 
the officers and men under him on this occasion. 

Li a letter to the President of Congress, dated February 17, 
1781, Washington says: "I shall not fail to communicate to 
Major General Parsons and the officers and men who were under 
his command, the very flattering notice which Congress has been 
pleased to take of their expedition to Morrisania." 

Huts, 31st January, 1781, General Parsons writes to his wife 
now living at Redding: — 

My Dear. — I have not heard a word from the family since I 
wrote by Mr. Wright. I wish you and they may be well. I thank 
you for your offer of the pigs — should have sent for them before 
this, but the expedition which I commanded below prevented. I 
intend to send in a few days. I have two or three barrels of flour 
which I only wait an opportunity of sending you. I wish I knew 
what you were most in want of that I might provide and send it. 
The Jersey Line having revolted, we have just returned from reduc- 
ing them to obedience. The ringleaders were shot and the rest par- 



336 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

doned. The flame has caught the New York troops who now refuse 
to do duty; and I fear our own will follow the example unless some 
money is soon sent on. I have not had a farthing this month nor do 
I expect any. I have subjoined a copy of the General Orders (given 
above) on the subject of our late enterprise. We lost one ensign, 
one sergeant and ten rank and file killed; one captain and ten rank 
and file wounded, and six are missing. We killed about thirty and 
took fifty-four prisoners. I shall be happy to hear of your welfare 
at every opportunity. 

Camp Highlands, January 30, 1781, General Parsons writes 
to Governor Trumbull as to his authority to call upon the 
State troops at Horseneck in case of necessity: — 

Sir. — As we may have frequent occasion to call on the troops at 
Horseneck, I should beg your Excellency to inform me how far we 
have a right to call on those troops when needed. I am induced to 
make this request from the conduct of Colonel Mead in the late 
enterprise made to Morrisania. I ordered him with the troops under 
his command to take post at Mamaroneck bridge the morning we 
made the attack on the enemy, that in case we had failed and been 
under the necessity of retreating, we might have been sure of a body 
of fresh troops at this important pass to sustain us. This pass with 
eighty or one hundred fresh men might have been defended against 
a much superior force and perhaps saved the whole detachment; but 
Colonel Mead for reasons I have not been informed of, declined 
complying with the order. Although we were in no want of his aid 
as events happened, yet I would wish to know whether those troops 
may be called upon on similar occasions, as their aid may become 
important. 

I am &c.. 
To Governor Trumbull. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Sunday morning, February 10th, General Parsons wrote to 
General Heath: — 

Dear Sir. — Seven recruits for the war and three years, arrived 
from Connecticut last night, not one of whom is fit for service. As 
the State have adopted their own mode of mustering their levies, I 
am at a loss what to do with them. If severe measures are not taken 
to prevent this evil, the impositions will be so very numerous that 
little good will result from an attempt to fill the army. As these are 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 337 

the first recruits which have arrived, and the Assembly is sitting this 
week, I liave thought of sending them under the care of an officer to 
Hartford to the Assembly with the reasons for their discharge and 
procure an order to the town to furnish other men. I wish your 
directions on the subject and am, with much esteem, 

Yr. Ob'dt. Servt., 
To Major General Heath. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Upon which General Heath wrote to General Washington : — 

Camp, February 18, 1781. 
Dear Sir. — Enclosed is a letter this day received from Major 
General Parsons. I have advised sending back such of the recruits 
mentioned as are manifestly unfit for service; but something further 
seems necessary to be done effectually to prevent such impositions 
in the future. 

In reply to this General Washington wrote to General 
Heath :— 

Sir. — General Parsons' proposition of sending the recruits imme- 
diately back to the Assembly now sitting at Hartford, I think a 
very good one, because it will serve to point out to the Legislature 
the impositions that will inevitably be put upon the public if any 
but military men are to be judges of the sufficiency of recruits. But 
to avoid the expense and trouble of bringing such trash to the army 
and sending them back, I think it highly necessary that a field officer 
should attend each place of rendezvous, whose business it shall be 
to inspect each recruit, and should there be any defect in him, 
return him immediately to the town from whence he came. General 
Parsons will know who are convenient to the rendezvous and he may 
appoint accordingly. 

Danbury, February 22, 1781, General Parsons wrote to Gov- 
ernor Trumbull: — 

Sir. — . . . The names of the recruits sent from Lyme and 
the reasons why they are not received, are enclosed in a letter to 
your Excellency of the IQth with the inspector's representation; 
lest that should not arrive in time, I have enclosed another and shall 
send the field officers mentioned in his Excellency's direction to Gen- 
eral Heath to Wethersfield, Norwich, New Haven, Litchfield and 



838 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Danbury, unless your Excellency shall please to appoint other places 
of rendezvous and notice me of your orders on that head. The 
recruiting orders his Excellency, the General, has directed forbid 
our receiving any person who is not an inhabitant of this State; all 
of whose attachment to the cause of the country there are any 
reasons to doubt; all under sixteen or over fifty years of age; all 
lame or infirm persons and all whose size and strength do not appear 
sufficient to discharge all the duties of a soldier. The recruits re- 
j ected and sent back will wait on your Excellency under the conduct 
of an officer. 

I am &c., 
To Governor Trumbull. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Camp, Febiniary 7, 1781, Colonel Samuel B. Webb writes to 
General Parsons as to the condition of some of his men : — 

Dear General. — Enclosed you have a list of eight men who are 
naked and quite a burden to the regiment. I mean, if I have your 
approbation, to discharge them to-morrow. The bearer, Asa Leon- 
ard, waits on you in his Sunday-go-to-meeting dress. His term not 
expiring till the 7th of May, I cannot discharge him without your 
orders. 

If you will be so obliging as to lend me a gallon of spirits and a 
few potatoes, I will see to repay you soon. 

I am, dear General, Aif. yours, 

S. B. Webb. 

[Endorsed.] February 7, 1781. 

General Parsons' compliments to Colonel Webb, informing him 
he is of opinion the service will be benefitted by discharging all the 
men named within, the bearer included. The spirits &c. are at Colo- 
nel Webb's service when he sends for them. 

March 5, 1781, General Parsons writes to H. Bissell, Esq., of 
Windham, Conn. : — 

Sir. — I am honored with the letter of the recruiting committee 
of Windham of the 14th ult. and in answer must inform that Body 
that we have no representation in the Legislature and therefore 
cannot be supposed to know what has passed in that assembly, but 
from their letter I feared some delay might be occasioned in furnish- 
ing the quota of Windham unless an examination was immediately 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 339 

made of the matters referred to in their letter. I have, therefore, 
examined the case of all the names mentioned in their letter and the 
answers you will find against their names. As the town of Windham 
has always vied with the foremost in maintaining the war, I have 
not hesitated to take upon me to remove every obstacle in their way 
to furnishing their full quota of recruits, that they may not forfeit 
the character they have assumed of being behind none in the present 
contest. I am obliged to say many towns are rather desirous of 
throwing off the burthen rather than performing their duty. I wish 
not to see the town of Windham in this class. 

I am &c.. 
To H. Bissell, Windham. Sam. H. Parsons. 

The following is from President Dwight, who was chaplain 
of Parsons' brigade, when he commanded at West Point in 
1777 :— 

Northampton, Feb 28, 1781. 

Dear General. — I suspect Parson Baldwin has not only taken 
my place in the Army but in your affections; I have written you 
several letters and have received no answer, not even a verbal one. 

This is merely to beg a favor of you, and therefore I claim no 
credit for it. I left a small bundle of clothes with your baggage 
which I have since heard are lodged at Redding. If without any 
trouble you could forward them by a safe conveyance to Hartford 
to Colonel W^adsworth, it would be a particular obligation to me. 

I remain as I was, only grown twenty years older than I was when 
I left you. Toil and anxiety bring a man down faster than his 
proportion. 

With the greatest esteem and affection, 

Your most obedient friend & servant. 
To General Parsons. Timothy Dwight. 

Washington having been informed by General Parsons' Aid- 
de-Camp, Captain Joseph Walker, whose home was in Strat- 
ford, Connecticut, that dangerous plans and combinations were 
being formed among the Tories of Faii-field County, wrote to 
General Parsons as follows : — 

Headquarters, New Windsor, February 22, 1781. 
Sir. — Captain Walker has communicated to me some discoveries 
made of a plot among the Tories of Stratford and Fairfield County, 
of which I have directed him to give you the particulars. It seems 



340 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

a clue has been found to it, which, if rightly improved, wiU enable 
us to detect the affair in all its extent, and punish the principals and 
their accomplices. I need not observe to you of how dangerous a 
tendency combinations of this nature are, nor of how much impor- 
tance it is to put an effectual stop to them. Your knowledge of the 
country and characters of the people will enable you best to conduct 
the investigation; and as you live in one of the counties where it 
seems to originate, you may do it with the less risk of suspicion. 

I am therefore to request, that you will undertake the affair in 
the manner you think most likely to succeed, and will set about it 
immediately. You may want a party of men when you have matured 
the discovery, to seize the persons concerned. These you may take 
from the Connecticut Line, as a guard to the part of the country 
where they will be necessary. The two points most essential will 
be, to detect any characters of importance who may be concerned in 
it, and if possible to get into our hands the register of the associa- 
tors' names. The person who will serve you as a spy, must be 
assured of some generous compensation, such as will be an object to 
his family and secure his fidelity. This I leave to your manage- 
ment. 

I am with great regard, Sir, 

Yr. most obt. servt.. 
To Major General Parsons. G. Washington. 

Redding, Conn. 

Two days after upon his return to camp, Parsons wrote Gen- 
eral Washington: — 

Connecticut Huts, February 24-, 1781. 
Dear General. — I left my hut last Tuesday to visit the Rhode 
Island troops and, with General Heath's permission, to make a small 
excursion to see my family, which was twenty-five miles east of the 
line of troops, on condition I was to be again at quarters to-day. I 
understood on my return, that Captain Walker had gone eastward 
with your Excellency's commands for me. I have not seen him. If 
anything of importance to be immediately executed is contained in 
those instructions, I shall be much obliged by receiving a duplicate 
of them by the bearer. 

I am Sir with greatest respect 

Yr. Ob'dt. Servt., 
To General Washington. Sam. H. Parsons. 

To this Washington replied: — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 341 

Headquarters, New Windsor, February 27, 1781. 
Dear Sir. — I have received your favor of the 24th. Enclosed 
is a copy of my letter of the 22d by Captain Walker. Should you 
not have seen him, you will be pleased to proceed after him, that no 
time may be lost in the investigation of the important matter he will 
communicate to you, and in which I hope you may have the fullest 
success. 

I am &c., 
To Major General Parsons, G. Washington. 

Parsons answering the same day, says : — 

Camp, February 27, 1781, 6 o'clock P. M. 
Dear General. — I this moment received your favor of this date. 
Capt. Walker has not returned, nor have I heard from him. I shall 
go eastward at gun-firing in the morning. I think it a probable 
measure to effect the proposed discovery, to send a person of address 
and good sense as well as art, to New York, to propose some way by 
which friends to government (as they call the Tories) may register 
their names without exposing themselves to danger on leaving their 
estates. It may be best he should take a list of names who would 
wish to be reconciled to their government. This may be going on 
whilst I am pursuing other measures for detecting them. At present 
I believe I shall try this measure unless I am forbid by your Ex- 
cellency. 

I am &c.. 
To General Washington. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Soon after reaching Redding, General Parsons writes to the 
Governor as follows : — 

Redding, March 3, 1781. 
Sir. — I arrived from Camp the day before yesterday by special 
command of the General. I am happy to hear there is some proba- 
bility of a donation to our old soldiers and some money to relieve the 
present wants of our officers. The objects of my command from 
the General are nearly pointed out to your Excellency in a letter 
from the Rev'd. Mr. Rexford to you, which you have undoubtedly 
received. I am convinced by the information I received yesterday, 
that the association of the disaffected party is very extensive and is 
daily gathering strength ; that a register of them is kept in the State 
and the mode of conforming to the British Government on the terms 
of the last proclamation is also directed by General Clinton; that 



342 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

regular channels of conveying dispatches through the States and to 
and from Canada for the enemy, are settled and their stages as cer- 
tain as those of post-riders. I am able to find the place at which they 
are delivered on the shore and two other stages at which they 
stop and are again forwarded on. What I most wish is to possess 
myself of the register and seize some principal characters, who do 
more mischief from their secret advice and direction than others by 
their open violation of the law. A general collection of provisions 
for the use of the enemy and furnishing them under various pre- 
tences, purchasing all the fat cattle in their power, seems to be part 
of their object; discrediting and depreciating the currency of the 
country by counterfeiting and other means; prohibiting French cur- 
rency in New York and coining counterfeit guineas to be ushered 
into the country; to embarrass and perplex our affairs by intimidat- 
ing the weak, encouraging the wicked and enhancing the ideas of 
expense and misapplications of moneys, seem to be a system the dis- 
affected are agents for carrying into execution. Enlisting troops 
for the enemy under Arnold's proclamation goes on with considera- 
ble success, and I believe a very short time will carry off a great 
proportion of the young men to the enemy. I know considerable 
numbers are now preparing to go off. A Lieut. Colonel and about 
twenty men were last night within about three miles of my quarters, 
and the Tories in general have assurances of the enemy's making a 
descent to favor them between this time and the first of May, at 
which time the associators are to take arms and spread desolation 
through the country, and furnish the supplies of provisions on hand 
and join the enemy in their operations. These are the firm expecta- 
tions of the Tories. Whether any such design exists in New York 
or whether 'tis an encouragement to their greater exertions at present 
and to cheer their spirits until they can draw their men and supplies 
to New York, I am uncertain. I have sent into New York. On the 
return of my messenger, I hope to be more satisfied. The spies 
upon the disaffected and who are fully in their confidence, can by 
no means consent to be discovered, which may exceedingly embarrass 
any future proceedings. This state of facts without a comment, will 
convince your Excellency of the difficulties attending the discovery, 
or detecting the plot in its extent and preventing the intended execu- 
tion of it. To inflict pecuniary penalties and suffer the criminals to 
continue near our lines, serves only to make them more cautious but 
not less mischievous. To apprehend and attempt to punish by civil 
process, will in this case be of no effect, because we cannot develop 
the witnesses, and the most pernicious characteriS are probably those 
against whom no direct proof can be had. To apprehend indis- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 343 

criminately by military force all those concerned, I do not feel my- 
self at liberty to do without further authority than I have at present, 
especially as some small essay of that kind was made last summer 
and involved me in the most illiberal slander of men of different 
ranks, from the magistrate to tlie peasant. To attempt to procure a 
law of the kind upon the present exciting emergency, is but defeat- 
ing a possibility of success in detecting it What then is to be 

done? Can anything more be done than to become spectators of 
our destruction without using any measures to prevent it, or at least 
any which will promise success. I have written this for your Excel- 
lency's consideration. I shall set out to see you next Tuesday and 
by Thursday intend to be at Hartford, when I hope you will be pre- 
pared to give me your directions, as I cannot make any long stay at 
that place. I must entreat your Excellency not to develop any part 
of this information to your Council or any other persons. 

I am, Sir, with great esteem and respect 
Yr. obt. servt. 
To Governor Trumbull. Sam. H. Parsons. 

March 13, 1781, General Parsons writes to Governor Trum- 
bull in respect to examinations of accused persons, taken at the 
direction of the Council, copies of which he incloses : — 

Dear Sir . — In pursuance of the directions of the Council, I have 
taken the enclosed examinations by which you will have some little 
idea of the extensiveness of those concerned in supplying the enemy 
and of illicit commerce. I find it convenient, and perhaps as neces- 
sary, to extend my inquiries to the commerce by water as by land, 
and to both, as well as the particular object of your recommendation, 
but when I view the list of the inhabitants of Greenwich, Stamford 
and Norwalk, which has appeared in the course of two days on the 
examination of four men, to be concerned, I own myself alarmed. 
The inclosed list contains forty-seven who are now at home, who, 
by the accusations of the examinants, appear to be concerned in these 
pernicious practices. How niany more will appear on further 
examination is uncertain, probably a great number. By perusing 
the examinations you will find some are accused on report only, some 
from personal knowledge. Add to these the scene which I expect 
will open at New Haven (unless the escape of a prisoner now taken 
should prevent), and the numbers who will appear in pursuing the 
particular objects of my inquiry, and it gives me a most horrid 
prospect. The Act of Government to try by Court Martial I have 



844 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

not received. I must entreat your Excellency to forward that Act, 
and also the advice of your Council how far it is expedient for me 
to proceed in apprehending the persons named in the inclosed evi- 
dence. I shall impatiently wait your answer, as the end may be 
defeated by delay, and I shall be unhappy to be considered the 
faulty cause. I have detained the examinant until I have your 
answer. 

I am &c., 
To Governor Trumbull. Sam. H. Parsons. 

The inclosed list of accused contains the names of six persons 
from Norwalk, eight from Stamford, twelve from Stanwich, 
seventeen from Greenwich besides several in prison, all charged 
with supplying the enemy with provisions and aiding them in 
their incursions into the country. The following is a copy of 
the testimony taken March 10 at Stamford, upon one of the 
examinations inclosed in the foregoing letter, and furnishes an 
interesting exposition of the condition of affairs in Fairfield 
County inquired into by General Parsons: — 

Andrew Bennett of Green's Farms, says; he was taken last 
Sunday at Green's Farms on suspicion of corresponding with the 
enemy and carrying on treasonable practices &c., and says he went 
the latter end of last December with Captain John Friend in a com- 
missioned boat to Lloyd's Neck, the company, John Friend, George 
Friend, Abraham Scrivener, Jonathan Scrivener, Moses Scrivener, 
Thomas Taylor and himself. 

John Friend went to Colonel Hewlet or Ludlow and got per- 
mission to bring off a quantity of goods, and took at James 
Ketchum's store about 300 pounds value, and brought them off under 
permission. No man went on shore but John Friend. The goods 
were landed at Saugatuck River in the bushes. The goods belonged 
to the Friends, Scriveners and Jabez Adams. 

Phineas Hanford, Jun. and Nathan Hanford, in January last 
sent fowls, mutton, beef, turkies, pigs &c. by Friend's boat and 
other boats to Long Island to exchange for goods, which were 
brought back to them. George Mosier and James Cable assisted 
in taking the articles on board. 

Mat. Sherwood, Andrew Morehouse, Michael Morehouse, Albert 
Stewart, in February, put provisions on board of a boat for Long 
Island, which was taken and the men confined. Jos. Guire of Red- 
ding, has had a quantity of goods from Long Island, which he had 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 345 

of Gideon Gray^ which were brought to Compo in a British boat 
for Gray. 

Daniel Dan, who married Colonel Webb's daughter, told him he 
had put 150 barrels of flour in a barn near the water in Stamford, 
which was to be cleared for Newport but was designed for Long 
Island. The flour is under the straw. The barn is on the east side 
the River. Dan has since joined the enemy. 

One Reed of Canaan secreted Jos. Hoyt in his house in J.anuary 
last, until he cut out a sloop from Saugatuck River. One Weed, a 
shoemaker, who married Fairweather's daughter, piloted Hoyt 
from Reeds to Saugatuck. This information he had from Reed and 
Weed. George Friend secreted Osborn and Judson last February. 
John Friend concealed Saml. Osborn. 

One Waring, a lame man, in Stamford, knows who carries provi- 
sions and who brings goods, and where they are landed, and has been 
himself concerned in the matter. Ebenezer Gorham of Green's 
Farms, told me if I turned evidence, they would kill me. 

Jonathan Scrivener informed him that a party was to land before 
Wm. Raymond's door at Little Island with about one hundred men 
and designed to plunder Captain Nash and burn his house, and he 
expected from the conversation it would have been done by this 
time. 

And so on implicating many parties. 

Hartford, March 16, 1781, Governor Trumbull replies to 
General Parsons' letter of the 13th in reference to the Acts of 
the Assembly providing for Courts Martial: — 

Sir. — Your favor of the 13th inst. is just come to hand. I 
immediately convened my Council. Colonel Dyer informs me he had 
already inclosed to you the two Acts of Assembly passed this 
session. 

The one which confines the jurisdiction of a Court Martial, or 
(as it is expressed) the exercise of their jurisdiction, to the town of 
Greenwich, which includes in it all crimes which would properly be 
the subject of your inquiry. 

The other Act which gives a Court Martial an extensive jurisdic- 
tion through the State, but seems to confine the jurisdiction to a 
species of crimes committed by persons who have joined, or who 
shall hereafter join, the enemies of this State or put themselves 
under the power and protection of the said enemies who shall come 
into this State and rob and plunder &c., and who have voluntarily 



k 



346 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

put themselves under the power and protection of the enemies for a 
day or an hour or how long is not limited by the law. 

Of these laws and the subjects of them will be for you to judge 
and determine, and how far they may be extended for the public 
good and to prevent the mischief designed. We cannot but esteem 
ourselves obliged to you for your care and attention, and hope you 
will proceed as far as your powers and the public good will induce 
and permit, and you may depend on every support while you make 
them your object. 

I am with esteem and regard. Sir, 

Your obedient and humble servant 

Jon'th Trumbull. 
Honorable Maj. General Parsojis. 

Redding March 16, 1781, General Parsons writes to Mr. 
Burr : — 

Dear Sir. — I am sorry a necessity existed to apprehend the per- 
sons named by Bennett at this particular time, as this information 
stands so nearly connected with another more extensive and more 
important transaction, the opening which to view I fear will be 
impeded by it. But since 'tis found necessary, I should wish (if 
the civil magistrate is willing) to examine them, and when I find 
they are apprehended and where they are confined, I will take 
measures for the purpose. 

I am &c.. 
To Mr. Burr. S.\m. H. Parsons. 

After continuing for two weeks his investigations in Fairfeld 
County and disclosing a condition of affairs most unexpected 
and alarming, General Parsons reports to General Washington 
the situation as follows : — 

Redding, March 1^, 1781. 
Dear General. — In consequence of your Excellency's direc- 
tions, I have to this time been pursuing the obj ect of the inquiry you 
have ordered, but have not been able to make the discoveries wished 
for or with a sufficient degree of precision to make any attempt to 
seize the persons concerned. I believe it is certain that an associa- 
tion is formed to submit to the British Government on the terms of 
the last proclamation; that the number of associators is daily 
increasing; that their names are transmitted to New York as often 
as opportunity presents; that a register of them was kept in New- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 347 

town, but 'tis not certain this register is now there or can be found 
if there; that a mode of conforming different from that pointed out 
in the proclamation is adopted; that many persons are engaged in 
the service of the enemy who are preparing to join them; about 
forty have made attempts since I have been there, but were dis- 
appointed; persons are engaged to enlist these men and are in the 
pay of the enemy and promised commissions. Regular stages of 
intelligence are established from the shores through the country to 
Canada. Dispatches have lately gone through those channels to 
Vermont, but I think it will be exceedingly difficult to detect the plnn 
in its extent. So much caution is used by them that my prospects 
are small of obtaining the register or exposing to punishment any 
character of importance. Some of their recruiting officers, some 
of the recruits, pilots, concealers of the enemy and conveyers of 
dispatches may be taken. In the course of my inquiries I have been 
informed of a great number in Horseneck, Stamford and Norwalk, 
who are suppliers of provisions to the enemy, who conceal them when 
they make their excursions from Morrisania and Long Island, and 
who keep up a correspondence and trade with the Post at Lloyd's 
Neck. About forty of these I know who are now at home and pur- 
suing the same courses and may be taken up ; and I believe this is 
not a quarter part of those who are concerned, and, upon inquiry, 
may be exposed. By these pernicious practices the morals of most 
of the young men in those towns have been dissipated and a thirst 
for plunder and money has induced them to courses which have 
eventually driven many of them to the enemy, so that it has become 
difficult to know what is best to be done in those towns. To make 
the inquiry thorough, and take up all concerned, will drive great 
numbers to the enemy, and to omit it will put the few well aff'ected, 
who now remain there, wholly in the power of the enemy, notwith- 
standing every eff"ort we can make to protect them. Whether it is 
best to apprehend all of them, or let them all remain, or to select 
out some who are most criminal and punish them in the most exem- 
plary manner without disclosing the names of the other persons con- 
cerned, and try what eff'ect that may have, are doubts which I am 
unable to resolve. The same questions will arise respecting the 
associators, pilots, conveyors of intelligence &c. In short, the evil 
has taken so deep root, 'tis become a subject of a very delicate 
nature and difficult to know how far 'tis best to extend the inquiries. 
The State has passed a law subjecting those persons coming into the 
State to plunder, and those who aid, assist or in any way abet their 
measures, to trial by Court Martial, declaring those people not 
exchangeable and inflicting capital or other discretionary punish- 



S48 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ment upon them. I must request your Excellency's particular direc- 
tions how far I shall proceed in these matters, and what I shall do 
with the offenders when apprehended. A temporary check may be 
given to the intentions of the disaffected by seizing a number of them 
at present, but no radical remedy is yet in my power. 

I am persuaded they expect a descent on the coast in April to 
favor their designs of joining the enemy and furnishing supplies to 
them. What probability there is of the event taking place, you must 
be much better informed of. The spy employed amongst them has 
assurances of generous pay for all the time he employs and expenses 
incurred in this service; of a handsome gratuity when he has done 
what he can, to be settled in some more secure place; if he is 
detected and obliged to fly from his present settlement, (which will 
be the case if he is discovered), and if he succeeds in discovering 
the full extent of the plan so that those concerned may be detected, 
and it shall prove to be as extensive as is supposed, he shall be 
gratified with an annuity of one hundred dollars per annum for life 
as a reward for his services. I believe him faithful and industrious 
in making the discoveries necessary. If you think it best to delay 
taking up any of those concerned until further discoveries are 
made, I think it will be best for me to return to Camp, leaving 
Captain Walker to prosecute the inquiries, lest my continuing here 
should occasion jealousies. I can return again when everything is 
prepared for execution. 

I am &c., 
To General Washington. Sam. H. Parsons. 

There are good reasons for supposing that the spy emploj'ed 
in this investigation was no other than William Heron of Red- 
ding. Parsons, whose home was there, knew him well and often 
used him to obtain information of the enemy's plans and inten- 
tions, as was well known. On the evening of the STth of 
February, the day he received his orders from Washington to 
proceed to Fairfield County, Parsons wrote the General that it 
would probably assist in making the proposed discoveries, " to 
send a person of address and good sense, as well as art, to New 
York, and that he believed he should try this measure unless for- 
bidden by his Excellency." These qualities, as we shall here- 
after see, were pre-eminently characteristic of Heron, so much 
so that he must have been the person Parsons had in mind when 
he wrote. As this letter was written during the evening of the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 349 

27th, and Parsons left camp at gun-firing the next morning, 
(the 28th, and that year the last day of the month), arriving 
at Redding March 1, he could not well have executed his pur- 
pose while on the road, but must have done so that day or the 
next after reaching his and Heron's home ; for in writing to 
Governor Trumbull on the third, after speaking of the expec- 
tation of the Tories that a descent in their favor would soon be 
made by the enemy and his uncertainty as to whether any such 
design was entertained in New York, he said, " I have sent into 
New York. On the return of my messenger, I hope to be more 
satisfied." A few days later we find Heron in New York. The 
British Secret Service Record discloses the fact that he was there 
— a pretended loyalist — on May 11, where he had been 
doubtless for some days, his " address, good sense and art " 
standing him in great stead. These facts point to Heron and 
to no one else and raise a strong presumption, if nothing 
more, that William Heron was the spy Parsons sent to New 
York. 

Thomas Taylor of Norwalk, charged with aiding the enemy, 
and included in the list inclosed in Parsons' letter of the 13th to 
Trumbull, had been arrested and ordered to appear before the 
General at Danbury the 20th. The magistrates and selectmen 
of Norwalk and twenty-six citizens vouched for by them as 
friends of Independence, joined in a letter to General Parsons 
representing that Taylor had always been a faithful friend of 
the country in whom they had the greatest confidence, and that 
he could not have been guilty of the offence charged unless mis- 
led by designing persons, and asking that his shortcomings, if 
any, be overlooked ; and that, " if he should be otherwise dealt 
with, we are apprehensive we shall in some measure lose his assist- 
ance, and can assure your Honor that we have need of all we 
can save to ourselves, as friendly men hereabouts are very 
scarce." 

To this General Parsons replied as follows : — 

Redding, March 21, 1781. 
Gentlemen. — I received a letter addressed to me, signed by the 
civil authority and selectmen and a number of other gentlemen of 
Norwalk, said to be very respectable characters, relating to Thomas 



350 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Taylor who was taken up and brought to me for practices of which 
he is accused contrary to the interest of the country. 

I ever have paid, and I hope I shall continue to pay, a respect to 
every character in office, but when I have clear and convincing 
proof against a man that he has repeatedly been guilty of offences 
highly injurious to the interests of the country, and the only motive 
to show him favor is, that he will not transgress again, I cannot see 
it to be my duty to pass over his sins in silence, unless he will make 
amends by freely disclosing the evil practices of others, perhaps of 
more consequence than himself; nor do I see a sufficient reason for 
a true friend to his country to wish this knowledge to be suppressed. 
I will never accuse any man of being guilty of transgressing the law 
in so secret a manner that no person can detect or find him out, 
though such informations have been made with great assurance, but 
I certainly will use every method in my power to bring to light any 
practice pernicious to the country, and when I procure evidence I 
will subject the accused to trial. I shall be happy to find Mr. 
Taylor disposed to free himself from punishment, but if he chooses 
to take that on himself which he ought to lay upon others, he must 
have his choice. 

I am, gentlemen &c.. 
To the Selectmen of Norwalk. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Redding, March 23, 1781, General Parsons not having 
received a reply to his letter of the 14th, again writes \o General 
Washington : — 

Dear Sir. — Agreeably to your Excellency's orders, I have 
attended to the business with which I was charged and have been 
through various parts of the State where I judged the most essen- 
tial service might be rendered. I have succeeded in some measure, 
but being seized a few days ago with a fever, am at present unable 
to stir abroad. I hope in a short time to be able to attend to my 
duty where your Excellency shall direct; would wish it may be at 
Camp if that is best. Should be happy to know your Excellency's 
pleasure on this head; likewise to be favored with an answer to my 
long letter addressed to your Excellency when absent on your tour 
to the eastward. 

March 26, 1781. P. S. After writing the above, I received your 
Excellency's letter of the 23d inst., observed its contents, but not 
able to answer it in full. I have matters of importance to com- 
municate to your Excellency, which I will do as soon as my health 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 351 

will admit. At present I am not able to stir from my bed without 

help. I am &c., 

To General Washington. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Redding, March 26, 1781, General Parsons' Aid-de-Camp, 
Oliver Lawrence, writes to Colonel Gray in reference to the dis- 
position of flour captured by his troops, and says : — " I refer 
the whole matter to you as the General is so very unwell, and is 
not able to do any business whatsoever." 

The following is Washington's reply to Parsons' letter of the 
l-lth, referred to in the postscript to the preceding letter: — 

Headquarters, New Windsor, 23rd March, 1781. 

Dear Sir; — Your letter of the 14th, instant was forwarded to me 
in my absence from this place, [he was absent nineteen days having 
left camp for Newport the 2nd] and met me on my return, since 
which this is the first leisure moment that I have had to attend to 
its contents. 

I am sorry to find the evil so deeply rooted, and that the defection 
is still gaining ground. From its extensive nature and pernicious 
tendency, I think every measure which policy and precaution can 
dictate ought immediately to be adopted to put a final stop to this 
illicit and treasonable intercourse. For this purpose it will be well 
to consult the Governor on the subject, who himself, or his Council, 
will be best able to advise (upon your representation) whether it is 
expedient to apprehend all the characters you mention, or let them 
all remain for the present, or to select some of the most criminal 
and punish them in an exemplary manner, without disclosing the 
names of the other persons concerned. In the meantime the joint 
efforts of the civil and military should co-operate and harmonize in 
defeating the machinations of the enemy. It has been hinted that 
agents have been employed for these purposes by your government; 
if so, these men and your emissaries might give and receive mutual 
aid; at least they must be prevented from thwarting each other. 
When matters are ripe for execution, I would yield the necessary 
military assistance; until then the greatest secrecy will be necessary. 

If the man employed by you should prosecute his discoveries to 
effect upon as large a scale as you intimate, he will be entitled to 
the rewards proposed. It will be at your option, after having made 
the proper arrangements in this affair, to return to the army when 
you shall judge your presence in the State not absolutely necessarj'. 

I am with great regard &c.. 
To General Parsons. G. Washington. 



352 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Danbury, March 30, 1781, Captain Joseph Walker, Aid-de- 
Camp to Greneral Parsons, writes to General Washington: — 

I am sorry to inform you that Major General Parsons is so 
reduced by his illness and at times so far deprived of his reason, as 
makes it impossible for him to transact the business which your 
Excellency expected. In the first of his illness he referred the whole 
business to me in hopes at that time of being able to attend himself 
in a few days, but I fear he will not this several weeks. 

A number of persons have been apprehended since the General 
wrote your Excellency, and are now in confinement at this place, some 
concerned in the illicit trade, some taken at Greenwich coming from 
the enemy plundering, others concerned in the combination which is 
forming in this County, and some of the last mentioned characters 
are capital villains, having been enlisting men for the British serv- 
ice, secreting persons coming from and going to the enemy; also 
conveying dispatches from the enemy to Canada and from thence 
back to New York, all which I hope we may be able to make appear. 

The person employed by the General is faithful and attentive, 
and I flatter myself will make further discoveries of importance; at 
present shall extend our seizing persons no farther than is absolutely 
necessary to prevent their escape and prevent any delay in finding 
out the grand plan. I would wish to know your Excellency's 
pleasure concerning those already apprehended and what is best 
farther to be done upon the business. 

April 4, Major Wyllys writes to Colonel Webb, " that Gen- 
eral Parsons lies on a sick-bed at Redding, we fear dangerously 
ill, which is very unfortunate for us. His non-arrival in camp 
occasions delay in the work." 

Elisha Rexford, the same person mentioned in Parson's letter 
of March 3. to Trumbull, writes to the Governor, April 4, in 
reference to the investigation being made of the conduct of the 
Tories : — 

New Haven, April Jfth, 1781. 

Sir. — Since I had the honor of writing your Excellency Febru- 
ary 25th, I have given every attention compatible with my station 
in life (that of clergyman), to find out the designs of the Tories, 
their combinations, plots &c., and have been favored with some 
success, and if affairs can be conducted upon a right line, apprehend 
much greater discoveries might be made. 

General Parsons informed me that he had obtained ample powers 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 353 

in order to search, apprehend, try and punish, which opened up fine 
prospects, but Providence has frowned in the General's sickness 
and, not only so, but I have been much disheartened by the very 
narrow limits allowed to Courts Martial by the General Assembly 
in their last session. If anything can be done to good effect, it must 
be done by martial law; so much is evident to me from the attention 
which I have given to the subject, and much might be hoped for in 
this way with proper regulations. If affairs must now be taken back 
to be conducted in a Court of Civil Law, all hope is at an end. 
I give up all further discoveries as gone, and shall not think it worth 
while to take any more pains about the matter, to consume time or 
expose life for nothing, for I am well aware of the resentment of 
these people, espcially by information from Mr. M. 

The apprehending of some few of the Tories to be tried by 
martial law has much deranged their affairs. One Tory said to Mr. 
M. that if matters were rightly managed by the Whigs, all would 
come out and their whole scheme broken up and frustrated. They 
dread to have examinations of individuals take place, especially by 
General Parsons or a Court Martial. Whig people our way highly 
approve of what General Parsons has done, and say this is the way 
to manage the disaffected to frustrate their schemes and save the 
country. 

The Tories wish to have all these matters in the Civil Law, and 
make their boast that there is but little danger there. 'Tis very 
observable that conscious guilt has much appeared since a few have 
been taken into custody. Mr. M. tells me of some that have left 
their houses and lurked about two, three and four days, or, if at 
home, have kept a good lookout. He has been advised to take care 
of himself and be ready to push off. 

I am &c.. 
To Governor Trumbull. Elisha Rexford. 

P. S. Captain Walker can inform your Excellency in many par- 
ticulars respecting these matters, and has some minutes of the con- 
duct of some particular Tories, which were obtained from Mr. M. 

A General Court Martial is ordered to be held at Danbury the 
9th instant to try Samuel Hoit and such other persons as shall be 
brought before them. Colonel Gray will collect officers for that 
purpose. The senior officers will preside. 

By order of Major General Parsons, 

O. Lawrence, A. D. Camp. 
Given at Redding, April 7, 1781. 



35J? LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Proceedings of a General Court-Martial held by order of Major 
General Parsons. 

Danbury, April 13, 1781. 

Samuel Hoit, an inhabitant of the town of Stamford in the State 
of Connecticut, being tried by a General Court Martial whereof 
Lieut. Colonel Gray is President, on a charge of joining the enemy 
and robbing and plundering the peaceable inhabitants of the State, 
is found guilty of the charges and sentenced by the Court to receive 
thirty-nine lashes on the naked body and be confined in Newgate 
Prison during the present war. Major General Parsons approves 
the sentence of the Court, and orders it put in execution at guard 
mounting to-morrow morning, and that he be confined until he can 
be sent to Newgate. 

Richard Wares, a soldier, was tried by the same Court for enlist- 
ing twice and taking two bounties, and was sentenced to receive one 
hundred lashes. The sentence of the Court is approved and ordered 
to be carried into execution at guard mounting to-morrow morning. 
By order of Major General Parsons, 

O. Lawrence, A. D. Camp. 

April 9, Parsons writes to his correspondent, " please to 
present my compliments to your fellow prisoners, and to that 
obstinate Tory, Parson Walter, my old friend." 

Redding, April 20, 1781, General Parsons writes to General 
Washington repeating his health and affairs in Connecticut, and 
advises an expedition against Lloyd's Neck, which he would wish 
to command: — 

Dear General. — It is now five days since I have first walked 
from my bed to the fire. I have recovered as fast as I have any 
right to expect since that time, but still continue very weak. I hope 
the first pleasant day to go abroad, and when I gain strength suffi- 
cient to ride, I hope a journey will restore my strength as well as 
health. I am at present unable to attend to the business you com- 
mitted to my charge. Captain Walker will take charge of those 
matters and doubtless communicate to your Excellency what he finds 
important. I can only say that the steps taken in that affair, seem 
to have brought the operations of the disaffected to a stand; at 
present they seem to be waiting events. I cannot but wish your 
Excellency, in the absence of the British Fleet, to order an expedi- 
tion to Lloyd's Neck. Two frigates would be sufficient to cover the 
operations and five hundred men will be quite sufficient to render 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 355 

the attempt successful. These with the ships can perhaps be ordered 
from Rhode Island where no jealousy will be occasioned by the 
movements. This expedition, if successful, will give peace to our 
coast the whole summer, and in that point of light will be important 
and very grateful to the country. If your Excellency should order 
this expedition, I think I have many reasons to claim to command it, 
and must beg your Excellency not to deny me; but, if any reasons 
should induce you to order any other officer to command, I must beg 
your permission to go with the expedition, in command or not, as 
you see fit. I am dear General 

Your obdt. humble servt. 

Saml. H. Parsons. 
To His Excellency General Washington, Headquarters. 

To this General Washington replied : — 

Headquarters, New Windsor, April 30, 1781. 

Dear Sir . — I have had the pleasure to receive your letter of the 
20th instant, and am glad to find by it that you are in a fair way 
of recovering your health again, and that the measures you had 
taken previous to your illness have been attended with some degree 
of success. As soon as circumstances will possibly admit, I wish 
the detachment of Continental troops at Danbury may be sent back 
to the Army. The Quartermaster General having it in contem- 
plation to have a considerable quantity of provisions brought on at 
once from Danbury to Peekskill, it will be well to make use of these 
troops as an escort for it, and to give the commanding officer 
directions to afford his aid and assistance in every possible way to 
facilitate the transportation. 

There are insuperable obstacles which will at present prevent an 
attempt to carry into execution the enterprise you have suggested. 
It may, however, be expedient to keep even the prospect a secret. 

I am, dear Sir, &c.. 
To General Parsons. G. Washington. 

Redding, April 30, 1781, General Parsons writes to Gen- 
eral Washington as to his health and the condition of affairs in 
Fairfield County : — 

Dear General. — The fever by which I have been confined has 
left me exceedingly weak and unable to attend to any business of 
importance, nor do I expect to recover my strength soon unless a 



356 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

journey to which I am advised, shall restore me. I hope to be able 
to join the Army by the forepart of June, but have no expectation 
of being sooner able to do my duty there. Two severe fevers in six 
months are very forceable proofs of a ruined constitution, and 
reasons of great weight with me to pay more attention to my health 
than a camp life will admit of. If I find I can go through the 
fatigues of another campaign, which I most ardently desire, I shall 
join the Army; but should the state of my health prevent my joining 
before the campaign opens, I must resign. 

I believe very little more progress can be made in the matters 
committed to my conduct at present. Capt. Walker will be able to 
inform you on the subject. A considerable check is put to the 
proceedings of the disaffected in this quarter, but no radical cure is 
affected. I find a report is confidentially circulated among them 
that the British Government have given assurances to Col. Allen that 
the State of Vermont shall be made a separate province, if the war 
terminates in their favor, and that he shall be appointed Governor 
of the new province. ... I do not wholly despair of possess- 
ing myself of a register of names who have conformed to British 
Government. I have proofs of the existence of such registers by 
those who have seen one of them, the keeper of which is now under 
guard, but the register was not to be found. 

I herewith transmit you the proceedings of a court martial on 
the trial of Uriah Rowland. I do not consider myself to have any 
authority to approve a sentence in a capital case; I do not suppose 
myself a General Officer commanding in this State within the mean- 
ing of the act of Congress, being here for a special purpose only, 
and without troops to command, and I believe the act giving power 
to a General Officer commanding in any State was repealed at the 
time when Congress reassumed the power of pardoning offenders. 
There is also a relation between the prisoners family and mine which 
is a prudential reason for being excused if I have a right. He has 
served three or four years in the army as a non-commissioned officer 
with good reputation ; is about 24 years of age, as brave and intrepid 
as any man ; has many qualities which might render him a very useful 
man. Since he has been over to the enemy, he has been very active 
in their service and has done much mischief. He says he was 
induced to bring over some goods from Long Island which he 
received in payment of a debt from a man who had joined them, and 
being discovered, he fled to the enemy, but says he has always 
retained sentiments friendly to the country. 

I am &c., 
To General Washington. Sam. H. Parsons. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 357 

May 2, 1781, Parsons writes General Washington advising 
him of information received the day before, beheved to have 
been brought by Wilham Heron from New York, where he was 
the 25th, having just reached his home in Redding: — 

Dear General. — By intelligence from New York as late as 
Saturday (April 28th), which I have every reason to believe, General 
Arnold was every day expected there to take command of 
an expedition. Admiral Arbuthnot is going to England, his officers 
refusing to serve with him since the action with the French fleet, 
tlis baggage was landed. Admiral Graves, who commanded the 
fleet, was in New York on Saturday, but expected to sail in a few 
days. Five ships of the line were in the East River, the rest in the 
North River and below. The fleet with the provisions had arrived 
without loss. The enemy appear in high spirits and say all the 
money for the current year is raised; this I think probable, as 
Government Bills have risen there from ten per cent discount to par. 
Two regiments of foreigners at Jamaica are under marching orders 
and were paraded on Sunday morning to march. Your Excellency's 
letter to some person to the southward, wherein you mention the 
state of our Army, arms and clothing, gives great pleasure to those 
who know it in New York. Great dependence is placed upon the 
defection of Vermont; they say their measures are fully secured 
there, and that an army may be expected from Canada soon. 

I have desired Captain Walker to receive the money due on my 
warrant at the Pay Office; if any order of your Excellency's should 
be necessary, I should be greatly obliged by your Excellency's direc- 
tion to have it paid. I have received nothing for eighteen months, 
have expended all my own moneys and cannot even redeem my 
horses which the Quartermaster has pledged for the keeping last 
winter. I am with great esteem 

Your Excellency's obedt. servt. 
To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

To the two preceding letters Washington replied: — 

Headquarters, New Windsor, May 3, 1781. 

Dear Sir. — Your letter of the 30th of April and 2d of May, 
together with the proceedings of the Court Martial whereof Colonel 
Gray was President, have been handed to me by Captain Walker. 

I hope the journey you propose will have a happy tendency 
towards the recovery of your health, and that you will soon be 



358 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

enabled to join the Army again, after your return, though I would 
not wish you to do it so prematurely as to endanger a relapse. 

Part of the intelligence you have been so obliging to communicate, 
I had received through another channel, but not the whole. The 
intercepted letter alluded to, said to be written by me to a gentle- 
man at the southward, I suppose must have been an official one 
addressed to the Speaker of the Assembly of Virginia in Avhich our 
situation in many respects was pretty plainly delineated; but you 
may be assured that ideas were held up in that letter which were 
by no means grateful to the enemy, which have embarrassed them 
exceedingly and which will be a sufficient reason to prevent their 
publishing the contents of it at large to the world. 

I am sorry to be forced to inform you on the subject of your pay, 
that there is not a farthing in the military chest except some moneys 
which have been sent on by particular States for the payment of the 
troops of their Lines, and which cannot be appropriated to any other 
purpose. I am, dear Sir, &c., 

G. Washington. 

P. S. The sentence of the Court Martial is approved. The 
Adjutant General will transmit the warrant for execution. Such 
of the culprits at Danbury as are to be delivered over to the civil 
authority, ought to be transferred immediately. The remainder of 
the prisoners should be disposed of or secured in the best and most 
expeditious manner, that the detachment of Continental troops may 
be marched to the Army without delay, agreeably to my letter of the 
30th ultimo. 
To Major General Parsons. 

Redding, May 4, 1781, Parsons replies to Washington's letter 
of April 30 :— 

Dear General. — I was favored yesterday with your letter of 
the 30th of April and shall as soon as possible send the men you 
direct. 

I find an uneasiness arises among the officers respecting the 
appointment of several field officers in the Light Infantry under 
the command of the Marquis, (Lafayette). If there shall be any 
alteration in that command, I would request your Excellency to 
appoint Lieut. Colonel Gray of the Connecticut Line, to the com- 
mand of the Battalion from that Line. 

Captain Hunter is now with me respecting a number of persons 
taken when I had a command to Westchester in January, who are not 
enlisted with the enemy and whom they will not exchange, six of 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 359 

whom, viz: John Shaeldon, Elijah Williams, Edward Bugbee, 
Abraham Lent, William Ryer and Nath. Conckling, on conversa- 
tion with Captain Hunter, I am satisfied it will be best to parole 
home, to return when called for. If your Excellency should be of 
that opinion, I shall wish the necessary orders to be given for the 
purpose. 

I am &c., 
To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Redding, May 8, 1781, Parsons replies to Washington's 
letter of May 3 : — 

Dear General. — I have the honor of your Excellency's letter 
by Captain Walker. The detachment at Danbury shall march as 
soon as the Quartermaster has provided teams for transporting the 
provisions from Danbury, which I hope will not exceed two or three 
days; the prisoners which cannot be tried before they march will be 
sent with them to Fishkill. 

Inclosed are the proceedings of a Court Martial against Beards- 
ley, Collier and Towner, the two former as fit subjects to be made 
public examples as any in this region, and the other a bad man who 
I fear will never be better. I shall send them on with the guard. 

I shall make no delay in joining the Army on my return from the 
eastward. I hope it will not exceed the first of June before I am 
at Camp. 

I am, dear General, with great esteem 
Yr. obt. servt. 
To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

On May 3, Parsons orders the seizure of one Willard by a 
file of soldiers, and denounces him as a villain. On the 4th, he 
orders the execution of one Rowland and directs the prisoners 
to attend the execution. This is probably the Uriah Rowland 
of whom he speaks in his letter of April 30 to Washington, 
and asks to be excused from passing upon the findings of the 
Court-Martial because his family and that of the prisoner are 
connected; if so, Parsons does not appear to have shrunk from 
doing his duty however disagreeable and trying to his feelings it 
may have been. 

The following letter to Colonel Webb is from the Emmet Col- 
lection in the Lenox Library: — 



360 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Redding, May 7, 1781. 
Dear Sir. — I had forgot to send the enclosed papers found or 
Baldwin; as they tend cleArly to evince a design to take off eithe: 
myself or some other inhabitant, and to show his forwarding th( 
measures of the enemy, they ought to lie before the Court. Whei 
they have done with them, please to return them and also the orig- 
inal letter used on Collier's trial, to me. The proceedings of the 
Court must be sent to-night if possible; if not, carry them with you 
The former will be best, because whatever sentence, you give wiL 
need an approbation and execution. 

Yr. Obedt. Servt. 
To Col. Samuel B. Webb, Saml. H. Parsons. 

President of Court Martial, Danbury. 

In Ma}^ of this 3'ear, Yale College, in recognition of distin- 
guished services, conferred honorary degrees on both Genera 
Washington and General Parsons. Harvard College, Parsons 
Alma Mater, also this year conferred upon Parsons the degre< 
of Master of Arts. The following is Washington's acknowl- 
edgment of the degree conferred by Yale: — 

New Windsor, May 15, 1781. 
Sir. — For the honor conferred upon me by the President anc 
Fellows of the University of Yale College by the degree of Doctor- 
ate in Laws, my warmest thanks are offered; and the polite mannei 
in which you are pleased to request my acceptance of this distin- 
guished mark of their favor, demands my grateful acknowledge- 
ments. That the College in which you preside may long continue s 
useful Seminary of Learning, and that you may be the happy instru- 
ment in the hand of Providence for raising it to honor and dignity 
and making it advancive of the happiness of mankind, is the sincere 
wish of 

Sir, Your most obedient and humble servant 

G. Washington. 
To the Rev'd. Ezra Stiles, 

President of Yale College, New Haven. 



CHAPTER XXII 

The March of the French Army Through Connecticut. 
Junction of the Two Armies on the Hudson. Failure of 
the Attempt on New York. Letters of Washington, Par- 
sons AND Trumbull. Reconnaisance in Force. Abandon- 
ment of the Siege. The Allies Move to Virginia. Sur- 
render OF CORNWALLIS. 

June — October, 1781 

While the Army was yet in the Highlands, Washington con- 
vened a Board of General Officers at his Headquarters, New 
Windsor, at which were present, besides the Commander- 
in-Chief, Major Generals Lord Stirling, Howe, Parsons, 
McDougall, and Brigadiers Knox, Paterson, Hand, Hunting- 
ton and Duportail. 

The Commander-in-Chief informed the Board that the prin- 
cipal reason of his calling them together was to make them 
acquainted with the plan of operations concerted between His 
Excellency, the Count de Rochambeau and himself at their late 
meeting at Wethersfield. He requested that they would at all times 
in the course of these operations, give him their advice and opinions 
individually without invitation or reserve, assuring them that he 
should ever receive them with thankfulness, and that, although cir- 
cumstances or other considerations might sometimes lay him under 
the necessity of taking measures different from what might be 
proposed, he hoped that would be no impediment to their still con- 
tinuing to communicate to him their ideas. 

The Commander-in-Chief urged upon the Board the necessity 
of economizing provisions, and recommended to the Generals, par- 
ticularly the Brigadiers, the necessity of inspecting the returns 
made by their Commissaries upon every drawing day, in order to 
see, that the quantity of rations drawn did not exceed the number to 
which the brigade was strictly entitled, assuring them that he 
should in future look upon them as answerable for any irregulari- 
ties upon this head. 

361 



362 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

He here took occasion to state to the Board, generally, the present 
system of the Department of Commissaries General of Purchases 
and Issues, and showed them the impossibility of their being upon 
their present plan, a check, as was intended, upon each other, and 
wished the Board to take the measure into consideration and report 
any method which appeared to them more likely to answer the end 
proposed. He also desired them to take the following matters 
into consideration and report upon them accordingly. 

1. A Plan for the regular inspection of the Magazines of Pro- 
visions, that the state of the provisions may not only be constantly 
known, but that the Commissaries may be called to account for any 
damage which may appear owing to their negligence. 

2. Whether the number of issuing Posts to the northward of Vir- 
ginia (agreeable to the return which will be laid before them by the 
Commissary General), appear to them necessary. If they do not, 
pointing out which, in their opinions, ought to be abolished. 

3. A plan for baking for the Army drawn up by General 
Knox. 

4. The proportion of women which ought to be allowed to any 
given number of men, and to whom rations shall be allowed. 

5. What officers of the Staff shall be allowed to draw waiters 
from the Line of the Army. 

6. Whether it will be safe during our advance towards New 
York and while we are operating against that place, to trust the 
Posts at Kings Ferry and West Point to the following garrisons 
composed of the weakliest and worst men, but who are always to 
remain in the Works assigned them. [Here follows a statement of 
the garrison of each Post, making a total of five hundred men.] 

7. How soon will it be advisable to encamp the Army, and at 
what place will it be best to draw them together in the first 
instance. 

On the next day the Board made a report signed by all the 
General Officers present at the Council, in which they say : — 

Sir. — We feel ourselves much obliged to your Excellency for 
having communicated to us the plan of operations concerted 
between yourself and the Count de Rochambeau for the ensuing 
campaign, and in compliance with your Excellency's request, we 
shall, you may be assured, through the whole course of its opera- 
tions, give you our opinion and advice, either collectively or indi- 
vidually, with that freedom and candor which the regard and 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 363 

respect we bear your Excellency and a sense of duty, unite to 
exact of us ; nor shall we be discouraged from continuing to do 
this, though you should deviate from the measures we may happen 
to recommend, as we have the highest confidence that you will be 
governed in this, as well as in all other cases, by the best of 
reasons. 

As to the several matters submitted for its consideration, the 
Board reports, that while the present system exists, it is unable 
to recommend any measure which will effectually prevent abuses 
in the Commissary Department, but that, perhaps, the waste in 
provisions might be diminished by a rigid supervision of trans- 
portation and a more frequent inspection of the magazines ; that 
it highly approves the scheme of General Knox for supplying 
bread to the troops, but doubts the advisability of attempting 
a sudden and rigid reform at present in the matter of officers' 
servants ; that the number of women necessary to the Army is, 
in our opinion, one to every fifteen men. 

The very capital importance of West Point to the common 
cause; the value of the stores deposited there, must make it a 
tempting object to the enemy, and will probably induce them to 
attempt the possession of it, should it be but weakly garrisoned. 
We, therefore, conceive that to secure that Post and its depen- 
dencies, not less than twelve hundred men should be appropriated 
to it. These we recommend to be composed of Continentals and 
Militia in such proportion as to your Excellency shall appear 
proper. 

It is our opinion that the Army should take the field as imme- 
diately as circumstances will admit, and that the first position it 
should assume be somewhere in the vicinity of Peekskill. In regard 
to the time in which the militia demanded of the New England 
States may be brought in, we imagine it will require upon an 
average at least one month. 

With the greatest pleasure we have obeyed your Excellency's 
commands in giving our opinion on the subjects referred to us; 
it will make us happy if, in doing this we should meet your 
approbation. 

We are. Sir, with the greatest respect, yours &c. 

To the Commander in Chief. 

Headquarters, New Windsor, June 13, 1781. 



364 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

In accordance with the recommendation of the Board of Gen- 
eral Officers, the Army was now rapidly concentrated at Peeks- 
kill, where much time was devoted to perfecting their drill, 
discipline and soldierly bearing, in which they were instructed to 
take due pride in order to present a creditable appearance upon 
meeting the fine regiments France had sent to their aid. In 
Parsons' Division, battahon drills were held every afternoon 
from four to six o'clock. In the mornings, the troops were " to 
exercise in detail and practice the manual, marching and wheel- 
ing in the different times, breaking off in sections and marching, 
by files." 

The plan concerted between the Commanders of the Allied 
Armies at their meeting in Wethersfield on the 22d of May, was 
that the Count de Rochambeau should march from Newport as 
early as possible and form a junction with the American Army 
near the Hudson River, upon which the two Armies would move 
down to the vicinity of New York, in order to be ready to take 
advantage of any opportunity afforded by the weakness of the 
enemy. 

On the 9th of June, the French Army, between four and five 
thousand strong, was ordered to rendezvous at Providence. 
After a halt there of eight days, the march was resumed, the 
regiment of Bourbonnais in the van, followed at intervals of a 
day's march by the regiments of Deux Fonts, Soissonnais and 
Saintonge, encamping at Waterman's Tavern, Plainfield, Wind-1 
ham and Bolton in succession and arriving at Hartford on the 
fifth day, the 22d of June. Breaking camp on the 25th, the 
same order of march was followed, the troops encamping at 
Farmington, Baron's Tavern and Break-Neck, reaching New- 
town on the 28th. The left flank during this movement, was 
covered by the Duke of Lauzun, who, leaving his winter quarters 
at Lebanon, kept as far advanced as the first division and ten 
or fifteen miles to the south, marching through Middletown, 
Wallingford, North Haven, Ripton and North Stratford, where 
he arrived the 28th of June. The march of the French from 
Providence was a continuous ovation, the country people crowd- 
ing around the troops, hailing them as allies and defenders, 
mingling with the officers and soldiers in their encampments, lis- 
tening to the music of the bands and bringing offerings of the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 365 

few luxuries which their little farms afforded. But it was very 
dispiriting to the American officers to see the inhabitants so 
ready to accept the assistance of the French and so reluctant to 
take up arms and fight their own battles. " The French will 
fight it out for us, having agreed to do so, and there is no 
need of our troubling ourselves about more men," was the view 
they took and acted on. 

When Washington learned that the enemy had weakened their 
Posts on the upper end of New York Island by detaching a 
considerable force upon a foraging expedition into New Jer- 
sey, he determined to attack immediately without waiting for the 
proposed junction of the two armies, and, in the following letter, 
announced his change in plan and the reason therefor to Count 
de Rochambeau: — 

Headquarters near Peekskill, June SO, 1781. 

Sir: — The enemy, by sending a detachment into Monmouth 
County in Jersey to collect horses, cattle and other plunder, have 
so weakened their Posts upon the north end of New York Island, 
that a most favorable opportunity seems at this moment to present 
itself of possessing them by a coup-de-main, which, if it succeeds, 
will be of the utmost consequence to our future operations. I have 
for this reason determined to make the attempt on the night of the 
second of July. But as we cannot with the remainder of our force 
maintain the advantage should we gain it, I must entreSt your 
Excellency to put your First Brigade under march to-morrow 
morning, the remaining troops to follow as quickly as possible, and 
endeavor to reach Bedford by the evening of the second of July; 
and from thence to proceed immediately towards Kingsbridge, 
should circumstances render it necessary. Your magazine having 
been established on the route by Crompond, it may be out of your 
power to make any deviation, but could you make it convenient, you 
would considerable shorten the distance by marching from Ridge- 
bury to Salem and from thence to Bedford, leaving Crompond on 
your right. 

There is another matter which appears to me exceedingly prac- 
ticable upon the same night that we attempt the Works on York 
Island, and which I would wish to commit the execution of to the 
Duke de Lauzun, provided his Corps can be brought to a certain 
point in time. It is the surprise of a Corps of Light Troops under 
the command of Colonel DeLancej', which lies at Morrisania with- 



S66 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

out being covered by any Works. To effect this, the Duke must 
be at Bedford on the second of July by twelve o'clock, if possible, 
where he will be joined by Colonel Sheldon with two hundred horse 
and foot, and on his march from thence by about four hundred 
infantry (Waterbury's Corps), both officers and men perfectly 
acquainted with the country. ... I must request your Excel- 
lency to send orders to the Duke this evening to continue his 
march to-morrow morning and to reach Bedford by the evening of 
the second of July, if he cannot be there by noon. In this latter 
case the enterprise against DeLancey must probably be laid aside 
and the Legion, with the First Brigade of your Army will be at 
hand to support the detachment upon York Island, should they 
succeed. I shall move down with the remainder of this Army 
towards Kingsbridge and shall be ready to form a junction with 
your Excellency below at some point which shall be hereafter 
agreed upon 

I am &c.. 
To the Count de Rochambeau. G. Washington. 



It had been Rochambeau's intention, being now nearer the 
enemy and in the midst of the Tory population of Fairfield 
County, to mass his troops at Newtown and proceed in close 
column towards the Hudson River, but in consequence of this 
letter, he pressed on to Bedford where he was j oined by the Duke 
de Lauzun, who had been ordered up from New Stratford. In 
accordance with his instruction, the Duke, with Colonel Sheldon, 
proceeded to Clapp's in Kingstreet (about two miles north of 
Saw Pits). Here they were joined by General Waterbury, who 
had been ordered to be there by sunset on the 2d with all the 
men of his command he should be able to collect. The combined 
forces, under the command of the Duke de Lauzun, made a night 
march to East Chester, where they arrived on the morning of 
the 3d. 

On the 1st of July, General Lincoln, with a detachment of 
eight hundred men, had been ordered to embark in boats at 
Teller's Point, after dark on the evening of that day, and having 
descended the Hudson, on the next day to reconnoiter from Fort 
Lee the enemy's Works on the Island, and if the prospect seemed 
favorable, he was to attempt to take them by surprise the follow- 
ing morning ; if not, he was to land above Spuyten Duyvel Creek, 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 367 

and marching to the high grounds in front of Kingsbridge, 
conceal his men and await Lauzun's attack and, if possible cut 
off DeLancey's retreat. 

To support these detached troops, Washington broke camp at 
Peekskill at three o'clock on the morning of the 2d and 
marched with his whole army (making short rests at the Croton 
River and Tarrytown), reaching Valentine's Hill, four miles 
north of Kingsbridge, on the morning of the 3d. General 
Parsons, commanding the right of the first line, composed of 
the Connecticut and Rhode Island troops, occupied the heights 
immediately commanding Kingsbridge, where he was in posi- 
tion to intercept the enemy should they attempt to escape in that 
direction. 

General Lincoln, having found it impracticable to surprise the 
enemy's Posts, "landed near Philipse's House (now Yonkers), 
before daybreak on the morning of the third, and took posses- 
sion of the ground on this side the Harlem River near where Fort 
Lidependence stood." His accidental discovery by the enemy 
brought on an action which defeated one of the main objects of 
the expedition. It happened that a wagon train with an escort 
of two hundred Yagers and thirty horse was to be sent out 
that morning from the British Lines, but intelligence having 
been received during the night that Washington's Army was at 
Sing Sing on the 2d, it was determined to send out the escort 
without the wagons to recall an advanced guard which had 
marched to Yonkers the evening before under Colonel Emmerick. 
The officer in command not deeming it prudent to " pass a series 
of defiles before he had reconnoitered Fort Independence," sent 
forward his advance guard, which in the darkness came within 
ten yards of Lincoln's troops drawn up in line of battle, before 
it discovered them. A sharp skirmish ensued in which the enemy 
were forced to retreat. 

The part assigned to the Duke de Lauzun was to beat up 
DeLancey's Refugees and prevent the relief of the Posts if 
attacked ; but upon his arrival at East Chester on the morning 
of the 3d, " finding by the firing," as Washington reports on 
the 6th from his Headquarters at Dobb's Ferry, " that General 
Lincoln had been attacked and the alarm given, he desisted from 
a further prosecution of his plan (which could only have been 



368 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

executed to any effect by surprise), and marched to the General's 
support, who continued skirmishing with the enemy and 
endeavoring to draw them so far into the country that the Duke 
might turn their right and cut them off from their Works on 
the east side of the Harlem River, and also prevent their passing 
the river in boats. General Parsons had possessed the heights 
immediately commanding Kingsbridge and could have prevented 
their escape by that passage. Every endeavor of this kind 
proved fruitless, for I found upon going down myself to recon- 
noiter their situation, that all their force, except very small 
parties of observation, had retired to York Island. This 
afforded General Duportail and myself the most favorable 
opportunity of perfectly reconnoitering the Works upon the 
north end of the Island, and making observations which may be 
of very great advantage in the future." 

From a letter of Captain Marquand's, Aid-de-Camp to Gen- 
eral Knyphausen, it appears that during the day General Wash- 
ington, accompanied by General Parsons, was at the Van Cort- 
landt Manor House, a mile and a half above Kingsbridge, 
and probably within the territory occupied by Parsons' 
Division. 

Disappointed in the result of the expedition, Washington, the 
next day, took position about twelve miles to the rear, the Army 
encamping in two lines, the right resting on the Hudson near 
Dobb's Ferry, and the left on the Neperan or Saw Mill River. 
On the 6th, the French broke camp at North Castle, to which 
they had advanced on the 3d, and formed a junction with 
the main body of the American Army at Philipsburg. The 
place chosen by Washington for their camp was on the high 
rolling ground between the Neperan and the Bronx, about four 
miles west of White Plains. The L^ion of Lauzun occupied 
Chatterton's Hill. Here the two armies remained encamped 
until the 19th of August. 

The objective of the campaign was understood to be the cap- 
ture of New York, and the assurances were that when this should 
become the object. New England would turn out almost en 
masse. Instead of this, operations were delayed for more than 
six weeks and finally abandoned because of the failure of the 
Eastern States to forward their quotas of provisions and men. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 369 

This condition of affairs was very aggravating to both Wash- 
ington and Parsons, and especially so to Parsons upon whom 
Washington chiefly depended to keep Connecticut up to her 
duty. Both displayed not a little impatience. On the 10th of 
May Washington had sent a circular letter to the several New 
England States, in which he wrote : — " I have already made 
representations to the States of the want of provisions, the 
distress of the Army, and the innumerable embarrassments we 
have suffered in consequence ; not merely once or twice, but 
have reiterated them over and over again. I have struggled to 
the utmost of my ability to keep the Army together, but all 
will be vain without the effectual assistance of the States." On 
the SJ'th and again on the 2d of August, he wrote urging 
upon the States the necessity of prompt action in sending for- 
ward their quotas, declaring that without them it would be 
imprudent to advance. The Connecticut Legislature, which, in 
answer to the circular of May 10, presented to it by General 
Heath, had promised to send immediately one hundred and sixty 
head of cattle, had, on the 1st of July wrote Heath, sent but 
fifty-two. On that date Washington wrote to Governor Trum- 
bull as follows : 

Peekskill, July 1, 1781. 
My Dear Sir. — I am again obliged to trouble your Excellency 
with the distress we are in for want of provisions to feed the troops. 
By a return from the Commissary General of Issues, we have 
received from the 12th of May to this date, only three hundred 
and twelve head of cattle, and these in the following proportions: 
New Hampshire, thirty; Massachusetts Bay, two hundred and 
thirty; Connecticut, fifty-two, in all three hundred and twelve. 
From this supply, with the half of salted provisions, we have 
barely subsisted from hand to mouth. . . . Thus circumstanced 
I am obliged to declare that unless more strenuous exertions are 
made by the State to feed its troops in the field, we shall be reduced 
to the necessity, not only of relinquishing our intended operations 
against New York, but shall be absolutely obliged to disband for 
want of subsistence; or, which is almost equally to be lamented, 
the troops will be obliged to seek it for themselves wherever it is 
to be found. Either of these circumstances taking place will put 
us into a most distressing situation on our own account, and at the 
same time place us in a most shameful point of view in the eyes of 



370 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

our French Allies^ and unhappily reduce them to a most dis- 
agreeable dilemma. 

I have the honor &c., 
To Governor Trumbull. G. Washington. 

E.S. Mr. Stevens will mention the necessity of rum and the 
deficiency from your State in that article. 

In addition to their sufferings and consequent discontent from 
the lack of sufBcient food, the Connecticut troops were becoming 
dangerously disaffected on account of the continued neglect of 
their State to provide for their arrears of pay. The Committee 
of the Line, appointed for the purpose, having failed to effect a 
settlement with the State, asked General Parsons to explain the 
reasons to the troops. After consulting General Huntington, it 
was deemed best to bring the matter to the attention of General 
Washington, which Parsons did in the following letter:— 

Camp Peekskill, June 26, 1781. 

Dear General. — The Committee from the Connecticut Line, 
appointed to adjust their accounts with the State, have returned 
without effecting a settlement, the Lower House of Assembly 
refusing to pay any part of the subsistence of the officers before 
the first of April last, and from that time no more than eight pence 
half penny per ration, the resolution of Congress notwithstanding. 
In stating the accounts, the Committee of the Assembly charge 
many articles supplied the Army at fifty per cent above the price 
agreed to by the Assembly, which the Legislature refuses to ratify. 
These reasons prevented a settlement, the gentlemen from the Army 
not thinking it consistent with their trust to close the account with 
the total loss of so great a part of their just dues, and have reported 
the facts to me, desiring me to publish the matter to the Line in 
such manner as I judge most expedient. 

On consulting General Huntington, we thought it proper to 
inform your Excellency of our apprehensions of the fatal con- 
sequences we fear on the refusal of the State to close the accounts 
and secure the subsistence, as well as the pay, of the Line, and to 
request your Excellency's advice and direction. The officers have 
now served from the first of January 1777, and have received very 
little more than one years pay for their services, and very little 
prospect appears of a speedy supply of money and no expectation 
of a settlement of their past wages and subsistence. Their own 
estates are in a great measure expended in subsisting themselves in 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 371 

the Army, and they are reduced thereby to a state of distress ; 
and the conduct of Government in this and other instances con- 
vinces tliem that they have no justice to hope from the State unless 
their accounts are closed and their wages and subsistence secured 
before the period arrives in which they have no further occasion 
for the services of the Army. Under these impressions, heightened 
by their real wants, I fear they will be driven from service on 
knowing the state in which their demands on Government are left; 
nor can I hold myself answerable for their conduct. I think it 
highly probable a very great proportion of officers would imme- 
diately resign their commissions even at this season, the con- 
sequences of which will be little short of disbanding the Line. I 
would, therefore, beg your Excellency's direction in the case, and 
that the Line may once more be aided by your friendly inter- 
position with the State to do them justice. The Governor has 
always exerted himself to procure that justice which is due the 
Army. A letter from your Excellency to him on the subject would 
at least quiet the minds of the officers whilst the matter was in a 
train of adjustment, and I believe procure that justice from the 
State which nothing else will effect. 

I am with great respect &c.. 
To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

To this General Washington replied: — 

Headquarters, Peekskill, June 27, 1781. 
Sir . — I have received your favor of yesterday's date and am 
very sorry to observe its contents. I can think of no mode more 
eligible than to transmit the letter, with some observations on the 
probable consequences, to the State of Connecticut. This mode I 
shall pursue, and hope the State, on further consideration, will do 
all the justice to their Line, that they have a right to expect. 

I am, Sir, &c.. 
To General Parsons. G. Washington. 

Washington accordingly, on the 28th, wrote as follows to 
Governor Trumbull, and enclosed in his letter, Parsons' letter to 
him of the 26th : — 

Headquarters, Peekskill, June 28, 1781. 
Dear Sir. — Enclosed your Excellency will receive copy of a 
letter addressed to me from General Parsons, representing the 
situation of the troops of your Linfe of the Army. 



372 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

I feel myself so distressed at this representation, not only as it 
affects the troops themselves, but from the apprehensions I have 
of the consequences which may, from their feelings, be produced 
to the general service, that, although it is not within my province 
to interfere with the internal resolutions or determinations of the 
States, I did not think it amiss to transmit this letter to your 
Excellency and to beg the most serious attention of the State to its 
subj ect. 

Permit me, Sir, to add, that policy alone in our present circum- 
stances seems to demand that every satisfaction which can reason- 
ably be requested should be given to those veteran troops who, 
through almost every distress, have been so long and so faithfully 
serving the State ; as, from every representation, I have but too 
much reason to suppose that the most fatal consequences to your 
Line will ensue upon the total loss of any further expectations than 
they at present have, of relief from the State; and how serious 
will be the consequences to our present meditated operations, should 
any disturbance arise in so respectable a body of troops composing 
this Army, as that from the State of Connecticut, I leave the State 
to reflect. For myself, I lament the prospect in its most distant idea. 

If your Legislature should not be sitting, (as I suppose they are 
not), I leave it to your Excellency to determine whether it is 
necessary immediately to convene them on this subject. I have 
only to wish that it may have as early a consideration as may be 
found convenient, or consistent with other circumstances which 
must be best known to your Excellency. 

I have the honor to be with the most perfect esteem and regard 
Your Excellency's most obedient servant, 

G. Washington. 
To Governor Trumbull. 

On the 9th of July, Trumbull replied to General Washington 
as follows : — 

Lebanon, July 9, 1781. 

Dear Sir. — I am honored with your Excellency's letter of 28th 
June last, with a copy of one addressed to you from General Par- 
sons, enclosed. Your feelings of distress excite a sympathy in my 
breast, and a readiness to do all in my joower to remove the 
occasion. That the Committee from the Connecticut Line of tlie 
Army did not accomplish a full settlement, was to me a matter of 
sorrow and fear for its consequences. The veteran troops who 
faithfully served, and bravely endured so many distresses in 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 373 

defense of their own and their country's righteous cause, in the 
unhappy contest with the British King and Ministry and continue 
therein to the end, will be rewarded, acknowledged and remem- 
bered with love and gratitude by this and future generations. 
Surely none will forsake it or cause disturbances at this time, when 
in a near view of an happy issue. Those who do will meet with 
reproach and regret. 

The country, universally, has had many, very many, embar- 
rassments and great difficulties to encounter and struggle through; 
enemies, secret as well as open; no permanent army raised; soldiers 
to be hired into the service for short periods at extravagantly high 
prices ; no magazines of provisions ; an army to be fed from hand 
to mouth ; finances deranged ; public credit abused and ruined ; a 
rapid depreciation of the currency; the army not paid or clothed; 
the force and the pernicious policy of a cruel and inveterate enemy 
to be met and avoided ; heavy taxes ; unreasonable j ealousies ; with 
a train of other grievances more easily conceived than ex2)ressed. 
Suffer me to mention one more, by way of inquiry; whether it is 
not grievous to hear our officers say, that "they have no justice to 
hope for from the State, unless their accounts are closed, and their 
wages and subsistence secured, before the period arrives in which 
they have no further occasion for the services of the army." I do 
sincerely wish for that period, and will then and ever exert myself 
to obtain justice for the officers and soldiers of our Line, as freely 
as I have done so, to bring the war to a happy close. A full 
settlement was agreed on for the pay and wages of our Line; the 
subsistence of the officers is the only matter unsettled. It was pro- 
posed to give them eight pence half penny per ration, not from the 
first of April last, as mentioned in the letter, but from the first of 
April, 1780; the residue to lie open for the determination of 
Congress. 

The Legislature of this State is not sitting. To call it to meet 
at this season, when every other business, public and domestic, calls 
for the attention of the members, will cause discontent and uneasi- 
ness. You may depend on my giving the subject as early con- 
sideration as may be found convenient and consistent with other 
circumstances. A sum of money for our Line of the Army, as 
much as can be collected, shall be forwarded soon. 

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of great regard and 
consideration. Yours &c., 

Jonathan Trumbull. 
To General Washinston. 



374< LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

On the same day, Trumbull replying to Washington's letter 
of July 1st, after detailing the measures taken to furnish beef 
to the Army, says : — 

I intend to remain home till the troops are forwarded from 
hence, then to remove to Hartford to promote the hastening on of 
the fresh beef and other supplies. . . . Mr. Pomeroy hath 
orders to send on twenty hogsheads of rum, sixty barrels of powder 
and more will be ordered as soon as I get to Hartford." 

On the 10th, General Parsons, at the request of Washington 
stated to him in writing, the claims of the officers to have their 
relative rank settled by a Board of Officers, as follows ; on the 
same day, and again on the 12th, he wrote as follows to Gover- 
nor Trumbull : — 

Camp, July 10, 1781. 

Dear General. — According to your Excellency's directions, I 
am to state in writing the claims of the different ranks of officers 
in the Connecticut Line to a Board of Officers to settle their rela- 
tive rank, or that your Excellency would decide the claims without 
a Board. 

Captains Bulkley and Morris, at the time of settling the rank 
of captains, were prisoners and have nevei" had an opportunity to 
be heard, and suppose themselves injured in the settlement, and 
under the resolution of Congress, claim to be restored to the same 
rank they would have held if they had taken their regular promo- 
tion. The subalterns suppose that the captain-lieutenants on the 
former establishment, have on the present system no other rank 
than that of lieutenants, no captain-lieutenants being now known in 
the Army, and being subaltern officers, are to take rank according to 
their commissions and in no other manner, there being no higher 
grade of subalterns than lieutenants. The lieutenants commis- 
sioned as second lieutenants before the first of June, 1778, when 
the new arrangement of the Army took place, suppose themselves 
much injured by being postponed to those who obtained lieuten- 
ancies subsequent to that point by regimental promotion; they 
say, that at that time they were lieutenants and the diiferent 
grades of lieutenants then ceased, therefore they are entitled to 
be considered as lieutenants from that date; that even sergeants, 
by regimental promotions, will command them on other principles ; 
they further say that these principles were adopted in the Massa- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 375 

chusetts Line in the sixteen additional battalions and in other 
Lines, and that by denying them the same consideration, they will 
become an exception to most of the Lines in the Army. The 
various claims before mentioned have become so interesting to the 
peace of the Line that I must beg your Excellency either to decide 
on those questions yourself or appoint a Board of Officers to hear 
their claims and determine on some principles by which they may 
be settled. 

I am with much respect &c., 
To General Washington. Sam. H. Parsons. 

Camp near Dobb's Ferry, July 10th, 1781. 
Sir. — Your Excellency's letter of last February assuring me of 
a very speedy supply of money for the troops ; similar assurances 
given by the Council in March and April, and your Excellency's 
direction to promise them a month's pay in solid coin by the first 
of this month, have been communicated to the Line from time to 
time, but to this time promises are all they have received and they 
believe 'tis all they will receive. More than fifteen months have 
elapsed without their receiving a farthing of pay or any other 
satisfaction for their services, and they think themselves worse 
than neglected. I have reason to fear very unhappy consequences 
will speedily result from this neglect and the refusal of the Legis- 
lature to adjust their accounts, and even at this time I fully believe 
nothing retains a great proportion of your officers but an expecta- 
tion of a very speedy answer to the General's letter wrote your 
Excellency on the subject of the denial to settle with the Army. 
I can in no measure hold myself answerable for the fidelity of 
your troops under the repeated disappointments they have met 
with. Justice to my country and myself requires me to be explicit 
in noticing the Council of the probable consequences of their 
neglect; 'tis their duty to present the fatal effects which will 
probably flow from a denial of justice, and 'tis mine to be impor- 
tunate to procure that justice which your Army has a right to 
expect and demand, in which case let consequences ever so fatal 
follow their neglect, I stand justified. Every State has done much 
towards satisfying the just demands of their troops, and Con- 
necticut, the best of any State in the Union, has done nothing. I 
must entreat your Excellency to enable me to give them some satis- 
faction. As to further promises I can make them none. The very 
many I have been directed by the Council to make, have already 
rendered my assurances of little avail, and 'tis unjust for me to 



376 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

make another essay to quiet them in that way. I shall make trial 
to quiet their minds until there is time to have an answer to this 
letter, at which period without money or an answer, I must submit 
to whatever effects flow from the neglect of the State to do justice. 

I am with great esteem 

Your obt. servant 
To Governor Trumbull. ' Saml. H. Parsons. 

Camp, July 12th, 1781, 

Sir. — It is my duty to inform your Excellency of every event 
by which your troops in the present critical state may be affected. 
The Rhode Island troops, who compose part of my Division, have 
just received an addition of two months pay in hard money, which 
makes six months wages received by them since the first of January. 
Colonel Olney has been kind enough not to deliver any of it at 
present, and will withhold it for about eight days longer to know 
if Connecticut will pay any part of the wages due to its soldiers 
and officers. The vicinity of our Allies makes the case more dis- 
tressing, if possible, when they pay every attention to us, and the 
utmost civility is shown us; 'tis mortifying indeed to be able to 
return none of the civilities we receive, when other Lines are paid 
so as to enable the officers and men to appear in character. 

The discontent is hourly increasing in your troops, and they 
have so little confidence in the State that any promises made by it 
would heighten their resentment until some of the many promises 
the State has made are fulfilled. They consider the neglect and 
repeated violations of promises made by the State as adding insult 
to injustice; and I believe any longer neglect will be attended with 
the dissolution of the Line, nor will it be in my power to prevent it. 
I beg to hear from you as soon as possible, that I may know 
whether anything is to be expected. 

I hear the State is selling its lands for any obligations owing 
from it. I wish to receive my pay in lands. Mr. Lee will wait on 
you and take any estate which is granted. 

I am with esteem &c.. 

Sam. H. Parsons. 
To Governor Trumbull. 

P. S. I would beg your Excellency to approve the appointment 
of Joseph Rogers, Ensign in the 2d Regt. and Phinehas Beckwith, 
in the 1st. Regt. They are doing that duty and officers are much 
wanted. 

To Parsons' letter of the 10th, Governor Trumbull, replied: — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 377 

Lebanon, July 16, 1781. 
Sir. — Your letter of the 10th instant is before me. The letter 
you refer to from General Washington, (June 28), I have received 
and answered. (July 9) You doubtless have by this time, or very 
soon will be favored with a copy of that, which will serve in 
general as an answer to yours under consideration. Some par- 
ticular remarks, however, may be both necessary and useful in so 
critical period as the present. In your letter to General Washing- 
ton and in yours to me, you charge the Legislature of this State 
with refusing to settle and adjust the accounts of the Army, and 
with denying them justice, and say they do not believe they shall 
ever have anything from the public but promises, and that you 
cannot hold yourself answerable for the fatal consequences that 
may follow from the conduct of our Assembly. The Assembly do 
not consider you as any further answerable than faithfully to per- 
form and fufill the trust reposed in you, an essential part of which 
is making a fair and just representation both to the public and the 
Army, in all matters that concern your office, the good of the 
public and the peace of the Army. It appears to me and to my 
Council that you are too severe in your remarks, and that a candid 
attention to what the Assembly have done and are doing to raise 
money for the Army, and the exertions people at home are making 
for that purpose; the extreme difficulty of collecting hard money 
just when the people are called on to recruit the Army at so 
great an expense; and further, that it is a fact that the Assembly 
have complied with all the Army requested in point of justice in 
settlement, excepting actual payment, and a trifling dispute rela- 
tive to the detained rations of some of the officers, in which, as 
such, the soldiery have no interest; for which rations the Assembly 
allowed eight and one-half pence, except for the time Congress 
made allowance from time to time as they thought fit, subject to 
further allowance as may appear to them reasonable, and every- 
thing proper for the Assembly to have done might have been 
settled, had not the officers refused. It appears to me if you attend 
to these facts, you will see tliat your complaints are not well 
founded, and that if you make the same representations to the 
Army as you do to us, they must be extremely dangerous. It is 
not necessary to make any more promises, as I have no doubt the 
money proposed will soon be sent forward, as every possible 
exertion is making for that purpose. I am also persuaded there 
is no just ground to fear but the Assembly will ever be disposed 
to do strict justice to the Army, and, all circumstances considered. 



378 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

it is undoubtedly the duty of every officer in the Army to exert 
himself in this critical situation of our affairs to quiet the Army 
by representing to them that, notwithstandng the many hardships 
and disappointments they have met with, the Assembly and people 
at home have not only an affecting sense of these distresses, but 
are exerting themselves to their utmost to provide relief; and that, 
as our medium is now likely to be certain, we may reasonably hope 
that our public affairs will soon wear a better face. As these are 
undoubted realities, I doubt not but the officers will endeavor to 
make the whole Army realize them. We are all embarked in the 
same cause. Our interest can be but one, and I doubt not but that 
by the blessing of God our joint exertions will soon procure a 
happy peace. 

I am with esteem and regard, Sir, 

Your obed't hum'b servant 
To Major General Parsons. Jno. Trumbull. 

The next day, Governor Trumbull wrote to Washington com- 
plaining of the severe strictures on the Legislature contained in 
Parsons' letter of the 10th, to him, and enclosed a cop}' of the 
letter, with his answer, to the General: — 

Lebanon, July 17, 1781. 

Dear Sir. — Since my last to your Excellency, I have received 
a letter from General Parsons, dated the tenth instant, filled with 
severe remarks and reflections on our Legislature, a copy thereof 
with my answer is enclosed. 

I wish to do the things that make for peace with both officers 
and men of the Connecticut Line of the Army, consisting of our 
own people raised for defending and securing the rights and 
liberties of the whole, embarked in the same common cause, and 
to return to citizens again when the contest with the British King 
and Ministry is ended; to prevent, if possible, discord and division 
so very dangerous in our situation and hazardous to our present 
operations. Surely the officers do not desire to inflame the soldiery 
with apprehensions that the Assembly deny that justice which was 
done them the last year, with which they were satisfied, when the 
Committee from the Line know the whole accounts of pay and wages 
were gone through and ready to be closed on the same principles, 
and that nothing remained in question but only the detained rations 
of the officers. This was not agitated till it became time for the 
Committee to return to their duty and when there was scarcely 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 379 

time for the members of so numerous a body to deliberate lapon the 
subject. Eight pence half-penny per ration was offered from April 
first, 1780. Many were of the opinion that by the time of payment 
that rate would be more than sufficient for the same; others pro- 
posed to secure a specific payment. As to what was due before 
that (April first, 1780) it naturally lay open for the direction of 
the Honorable Congress. In the midst of these deliberations the 
Committee left us unexpectedly. I observed no design to deny 
j ustice to the officers ; to the soldiery, there could be none. The 
accounts were fully agreed, prepared and ready to be closed. I 
choose to forbear any recrimination, yet suffer me to inquire, why 
the Committee from the Line did not bring on the settlement for 
detained rations earlier.'' they knew it must require time for 
deliberations when they well knew the principles for settlement of 
pay and wages were agreed on the last year. Do they mean to 
press for more than justice from the necessity of their present 
services and the fear of fatal consequences, if denied.'' The whole 
Line knows, and ought to consider, their pay and wages are secured 
in full value, while depreciation operates as a heavy tax upon the 
rest of the people. The officers may likewise consider that their 
pay was raised by Congress fifty per cent above what the State 
agreed with them for. 

The maxim adopted by the enemy is that old one of " divide 
et iinpera." Will we suffer avarice to divide and ruin us and our 
cause and give them opportunity to exult and triumph over us? 
Providence hath and doth smile propitiously uj^on us and calls 
aloud for union, vigorous exertions, patience and perseverance 
and to endure hardships as good soldiers, that the end may be 
peace. Justice and Peace ride together in the same chariot. It 
will be my constant endeavor that peace may be obtained on just 
and honorable terms, and that justice may be done to them who 
jeopard their lives in the high places of the field, in defence and 
to secure the blessings of freedom for ourselves and posterity. 

I wrote yesterday the Treasurer to inform me this week what 
sum of hard money is and can be immediately collected for the 
Army, which shall be sent forward without delay. The measures 
directed and orders given for raising and marching our troops to 
the Army, are now diligently carrying into execution. 

I have the honor to be with every sentiment of esteem and 
consideration. 

Your Excellency's most obdt. humb. servt. 
To His Excellency, General Washington. -^^o'th. Trumbull. 



380 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Trumbull's letters of the 16th and 17th drew from General 
Parsons the following scathing and indignant response: — 

Camp, July 26, 1781. 

Sir. — Had a doubt remained in my mind, your Excellency's 
letter to the Commander in Chief and the one addressed to me of 
the l6th inst., would have removed a possibility of doubting that 
in the opinion of the Council no truth can be told with plainness 
but is unjust and injurious, and that no labor and pains which I 
take to satisfy the minds of the Connecticut Line of the Army 
is considered in any other light than unjustifiable design, mis- 
representation and little short of exciting mutiny and disorder. 
This, Sir, is a treatment that I less deserved than expected. I know 
I have exerted myself to preserve the peace of your Line in every 
instance since I have had the honor to command it, for which I 
have received neither gratitude nor good words, and I know it a 
veritable fact (to use your expression), that the existence of your 
Line is more owing to the unremitting exertions of myself and the 
officers of the Line than to anything the State has done. 

You tax me, Sir, with making misrepresentations to the army, 
and that in consequence of those misrepresentations extreme 
danger is to be apprehended. This observation is founded in an 
entire mistake, which the gentleman, in whose handwriting I believe 
your letter to be, well knows, as we have not been accustomed since 
1776, nor then in many instances, to call the soldiers together to 
considt on grievances, or to make representations to them of 
dangers or difficulties which attend or threaten their situation, but 
have uniformly observed a different line of conduct. I have care- 
fully reviewed the letter I wrote the General which your Council 
except against, and am not able to find a tittle of misrejjresenta- 
tion in it. That letter is an official one founded on the report of 
the committee (of the army) ; the truth of their report I am not 
answerable for. I have no reason to believe it contains anything 
but strict and literal facts, the opinion of the Council notwith- 
standing. I leave them to justify their own report, and have no 
doubt they are well able to do it. I agree with the Council " that 
I am no further answerable for the fidelity of the troops than by 
a faithful performance of the trust reposed in me, an essential 
part of which is making a fair and just representation both to the 
public and the army." However strongly a contrary conduct is 
implied in your letter, I know I have done my duty with upright- 
ness, and have never made any unfair or unjust representations to 
the army, unless promising them from time to time by desire of 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 381 

the Council, what has never been fulfilled, may be considered as 
such ; but every rejoresentation I have made to the Line has been 
that which tended to set Government in the fairest light, and 
which was most likely to quiet their minds. The many misrepresen- 
tations I have been compelled to make for this purpose, if the 
Council did me justice, they would place to their own account, as it 
originated with themselves. If this has been a crime to me, I 
ought to ask pardon of my Maker and the Army, but not of the 
State by whose importunity I have been misled. 

As to representations to the public, 'tis not the custom of the 
army to make them, nor do we make that appeal but in cases of the 
greatest urgency. I do not, as you suppose, tax the State with 
injustice. I but represent to the Commander in Chief, as is my 
duty, the opinions and feelings of the Line. However mistaken 
they may be, I am not culpable for their opinions, but should I 
omit to make a just representation of thenj, I should be held 
criminal by every impartial man should ill consequences flow from 
those opinions; the facts on which their distrust is founded they are 
well able to represent, and I have no reason to believe them mis- 
taken. But since plainness and literal truths are not agreeable, 
I will omit to trouble the Council in future on the subject, as I 
cannot reconcile my mind to a different line of conduct. 

The distinction your Council make between the interests of the 
officers and soldiers I am convinced is popular in the State, which 
is the only forcible reason I can see for its being adopted. Their 
interests, in my opinion, are inseparable, and there are but few 
soldiers who can be induced to believe that that man or body of 
men who refuse to fulfil a contract made with one class of men, 
will religiously abide those made with another class. Nor can I 
see the dispute, which you say was the only one, is so trifling as 
your Council seem to consider it; nor was that the only dispute, 
if the committee rightly inform me, and, as they say, a letter 
addressed to your Excellency at Hartford will convince the world 
that they did not acquiesce in the report of the Assembly's com- 
mittee, and that the agreement mentioned in your letter to the 
General, is a partial one made by the Assembly's committee and 
objected to by them. Upon the whole. Sir, I am taxed with mis- 
representation for stating facts which I have every reason to 
believe are true. It would be exceedingly improper for me to 
retort the charge, although the committee of the army are not con- 
vinced the facts stated by the Council are a just representation of 
the transactions. 



K 



382 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The expression in your letter I am most affected with, is that 
you say the sentiments contained in it are your own as well as those 
of your Council. This, I own, I should not have expected, and I 
know I never deserved them either from you or them, and had a 
right to expect a very different treatment from you. If perfect 
silence in future is most agreeable, I shall not trouble your Excel- 
lency or the Council with any further information, and only add 
that I esteem myself 

Your Excellency's much abused and very humble servant 

S. H. Parsons. 
To Governor Trumbull. 

Among the Trumbull Papers are two letters, both dated July 
26, 1781, and both signed by officers of the Connecticut Line, 
from which it is evident that General Parsons, in his representa- 
tions to the Governor, did not in the least exaggerate the gravity 
of the situation. The first, addressed to the Governor, is as 
follows : — 

Camp Phillipsborough, July 26, 1781. 
Sir: — We have been favored with the perusal of your letter 
to the Commander-in-Chief of the pth of July, in which it is 
observed, " a full settlement was agreed upon for the pay and 
wages of our Line, the subsistence of the officers being the only 
matter unsettled." From our personal acquaintance with your 
Excellency, we are led to conceive you have entirely misunderstood 
the objections made by the Army's Committee in the letter from 
them delivered you by Col. Swift, previous to our departure from 
Hartford. After being fully convinced that the State was deter- 
mined not to do us justice on the subject of retained rations which 
are considered a very essential part of our pay, we could not think 
ourselves authorized to proceed any further in adjusting the 
accounts, and entirely objected to completing a settlement. This 
we stated in a letter directed to the Assembly's Committee then 
at Wethersfield, upon which they delivered into our hands all the 
papers on which a settlement could be grounded, which letter was 
laid before the House of Assembly with the report of their Com- 
mittee. That polite attention and treatment we had invariably 
received from your Excellency, with the attachment you had ever 
manifested to the interests of the Army, and that our conduct 
might be perfectly reconciled to your feelings, we gave your 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 383 

Excellency a stating of the whole matter at large in which we 
objected to certain articles being charged at fifty per cent higher 
than the price affixed by the Assembly in their former Resolves; 
the injustice done a number of officers in receiving orders for cloth- 
ing which were not paid until the money had greatly depreciated; 
the inequality of the sum allowed to purchase the articles of provi- 
sions withheld from us without our consent, all of which more fully 
appear by the said letter, were the principal reasons given for our 
departure previous to completing a settlement. How 'tis possible 
your Excellency can suppose a full adjustment was agreed upon 
for pay and wages, is to us mysterious ; if so, it has been done with- 
out the knowledge or consent of the Army or its Committee. The 
resolution of the Assembly appointing a Committee to settle with 
the Army for the year 1780, authorized them to meet such Com- 
mittee as the Army should appoint for that purpose, by which it 
fully appears that their Committee was a joint one with the Army 
Committee. Without their mutual consent, we cannot conceive it 
possible the business, or any part of it, could be completed. The 
Assembly must be vested with some powers never before mani- 
fested, if their approbation of an ex parte report of two com- 
mittees, can establish a contract never made. If by the adjust- 
ment your Excellency speaks of, is meant an agreement between 
the Assembly's Committee and themselves, we can have no objec- 
tions to your Excellency representing it to the Commander-in- 
Chief, so long as the only knowledge they or any of them have of 
it, is taken from your Excellency's letter. It appears to us equally 
unreasonable how any one could suppose the Army was settled with 
when no payment was made or plan of payment suggested; if this 
is called a settlement by the State, we must confess the sentiments 
we have heretofore entertained of their honor and dignity will in 
future want support. Conscious to themselves that no adjustment 
had taken place to their knowledge, the Committee from the Army 
on their arrival in Camp, reported to the Line, (which report was 
delivered to the Commander-in-Chief), that no settlement with the 
State was effected for the year, 1780, which very essentially 
differs from the representation made to him by your Excellency 
and immediately calls our veracity and personal credit into ques- 
tion. Your Excellency can very easily judge of our feelings in 
consequence, but we shall have the consolation of believing our 
report founded upon truth until some evidence of our acquiescing 
in a settlement is produced. 



384 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

We are with all possible respect your Excellency's most obed't. 
and most humble servants 

Signed Col. Herman Swift, 

Lt. Eben Huntington, 
Major David Smith, 
Capt. Richard Sill, 
Lt. Hezekiah Rogers. 
To his Excellency, Governor Trumbull. 

The second letter, which follows in full, is signed by sixty- 
seven officers of the Line — three colonels ; three lieut. colonels ; 
two majors; twenty captains; twenty-three lieutenants; thirteen 
ensigns and three surgeons — is without address, but evidently, 
was sent to Governor Trumbull to be presented by him to his 
Council or to the Assembly : — 

Camp, July 26, 1781. 

Sir: — We have attentively perused the letter from his Excel- 
lency, Governor Trumbull to the Commander-in-Chief, of the 9th 
of July, and are unhappy that the conduct of the State is such as 
to give grounds for observations which injure the feelings of any 
of its members. 

His Excellency must have forgotten he could be severe, when 
speaking of those who should quit the Army, he says, " Surely 
none will forsake it or cause disturbances at this time when in a 
near view of an happy issue; those who do will meet with reproach 
and regrets." 

After continuing in service almost five years, being compelled 
to loan three years pay to the Government without obtaining but a 
small proportion of the interest, and not able as yet to receive but 
a trifling part of what is due for eighteen months last past; our 
families reduced to the verge of poverty, our little private for- 
tunes nearly exhausted; our constitutions emaciated and our cloth- 
ing worn to rags, we never once suspected, after being compelled 
to quit the Army, we ought to meet reproach from that Country to 
whose inattention the compulsion owes its origin. 

In the midst of our distresses, we have ever indulged the pleasing 
reflection that our Countrymen at home in ease and luxury, at least 
were disposed to make us the small satisfaction of gratitude and 
thanks for fatigues and hardships. The delusion has sweetened our 
most disagreeable moments and smoothed the face of danger. If 
what we have already done procures reproach, we may at the close 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 385 

of the war fully expect a very different reward from the love and 
gratitude promised in his Excellency's letter. 

His Excellency with a degree of anxiety inquires, " Whether it is 
not grievous to hear our officers say, ' they have no justice to hope 
for from the State unless their accounts are closed and their wages 
and subsistence secured before the period arrives in which it has no 
further occasion for the service of the Army.' " We cannot con- 
ceive the observation any further grievous than it wants support 
from the conduct of the Government. From our attention to man- 
kind and their actions, we are taught to believe, that when an indi- 
vidual or a jDublic body has broken over the rules of justice and 
equity, 'tis not unreasonable to expect them to pursue in similar 
circumstances the same line of conduct. By the resolve of the 
Assembly, October, 1779, for liquidating and adjusting the accounts 
of the Army to the first of January, 1780, those, who through the 
fatigues of three campaigns had ruined their constitutions or whose 
particular distresses had compelled them to obtain discharges, were 
absolutely excluded from the benefit of the resolves, although, in 
several instances, they had served within a few days of the given 
time. Their petitions and remonstrances to the General Assembly 
on the subject have been enumerated, but to no effect. The reason 
of this partiality in the mind of every disinterested person would 
be grounded upon the necessity of our services and the expiration 
of theirs. Were we silently to pass over the many instances in which 
the public faith (as his Excellency justly observes) has been abused 
and ruined, this single instance, so applicable in all its circumstances 
would be sufficient to justify the observation to the world. Either 
the State must act a trifling, inconsistent part, or our reward depends 
upon the necessity of our services to its defense. At the raising of 
the Army in 1777, a certain number of rations were promised to 
each rank of officers, which were to be received by them in pro- 
visions, or a satisfactory compensation made in lieu thereof. The 
provision has been withheld from us, not by our consent. The Assem- 
bly (who, after the recommendation of Congress to the several States 
to settle with their respective troops, ought to make such compensa- 
tion), refuse to make that allowance which a committee from their 
own body judged was our due. Government has not punctually 
paid the interest of the moneys which, from their holding them in 
their own hands, they have compelled us to loan to them, except in 
a few instances. Money for wages has been repeatedly promised 
us for more than twelve months past by the Governor and Com- 
manding Officer of the Line, [Parsons] but not a single farthing 



386 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

has arrived. Whether this neglect has arisen from the inability of 
the Government to execute its own orders, or from the orders them- 
selves not being sufficiently extensive to answer the purpose pro- 
posed, to us is very immaterial; in the result our just dues are with- 
held from us. While our opinion is the necessary consequence of 
disagreeable evidence, we cannot conceive how it can fall with any 
grief upon those who, in all circumstances, have discharged their 
duty. Faith, whether moral or political, is equally averse to com- 
pulsion ; the difficulty of creating it in one instance is the same as in 
the other, both must depend upon the evidence of truth communi- 
cated to the mind. To believe without evidence would be miraculous, 
and to disbelieve with it, impossible. Our wishes and interests 
compel us to faith in Government, and his Excellency may depend 
upon it, solid arguments drawn from the purses of those we defend, 
will renew, and a faithful fulfillment of promises support, such a 
faith as will make us sound political believers, without which noth- 
ing short of an entire alteration of the original plan of our natures 
can effect. We wish you to communicate these our sentiments to those 
who censure us for speaking truths we cannot avoid believing. 

Headquarters, Dobb's Ferry, August 3, 1781, Washington 
wrote to Governor Trumbull as follows : — 

Sir. — I regret being obliged to inform your Excellency, that I 
find myself at this late period very little stronger than I was when 
the Army first moved out of its Quarters. I leave your Excellency 
to judge of the delicate and embarrassed situation in which I stand 
at this moment. Unable to advance with prudence beyond my 
present position, while perhaps in the general opinion my force is 
equal to the commencement of operations against New York, my 
conduct must appear, if not blamable, highly mysterious at least. 
Our Allies, with whom a junction has been formed upwards of three 
weeks, and who were made to expect from the engagements which 
I entered into with them at Wethersfield in May last, a very con- 
siderable augmentation of our force by this time, instead of seeing 
a prospect of advancing, must conjecture, upon good grounds, that 
the campaign will waste fruitlessly away. ... I cannot yet 
but persuade myself, and I do not cease to encourage our Allies 
with the hope, that our force will still be sufficient to carry our 
intended operation into effect; or, if we cannot fully accomplish 
that, to oblige the enemy to withdraw part of their force from the 
southward to support New York, which, as I informed you in my 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 387 

letter from Wethersfield, was part of our plan. Your Excellency 
must be sensible, that the fulfillment of my engagements must 
depend upon the degree of vigor with which the executives of the 
several States exercise the powers with which they have been vested, 
and enforce the laws lately passed for filling up and supplying the 
Army. ... I have the honor &c., 

G. Washington. 
P. S. — For the quiet of the troops of your Line, I am anxious 
that a sum of money to the amount of two or three months pay, may 
come on immediately. If this is much longer delayed, I am fearful 
what may be the consequences. 
To Governor Trumbull. 

The Governor would seem to have assented to the method 
urged by Parsons and his fellow officers and endorsed by Wash- 
ington, of renewing and supporting his soldiers' faith in their 
State and converting them into " sound political believers," for, 
as appears from his reply to the preceding letter, he had already 
commenced drawing " solid arguments from the purses of those 
they defend." 

Hartford, August 8, 1781. 

Dear Sir. — Your Excellency's letter of the third instant is re- 
ceived. We have exerted ourselves to obtain money for the Con- 
necticut Line of the Army, and have had success so far as to put 
up thirty-five thousand pounds lawful money in solid silver and 
gold, ready to be conveyed to the Army for pay and wages of our 
Line. It will be at Danbury by the fifteenth instant. Wish for 
directions relative to bringing it forward, and the safety thereof. 

I have given renewed orders for raising, detaching and marching 
the men for the Continental Army. The two State regiments at 
Horseneck, and for three months service, to march to West Point, 
hoping the same will have a good effect. 

I expect to-morrow morning to set out on my journey to Dan- 
bury and shall there receive your letters and directions. 

I am with every sentiment of esteem, yours &c., 

Jon'th Trumbull. 
To his Excellency, General Washington. 

The preceding correspondence between Washington, Parsons 
and the Governor and Council of Connecticut relative to the 
Connecticut Line, appears to havb been effectual in stirring up 



388 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the authorities of that State to more prompt and efficient action, 
and if Parsons did let loose his indignation somewhat, it was no 
more than his State deserved for its apathy at this most critical 
period. The Governor and Council must have been satisfied 
upon further reflection that Parsons was in the right, for not 
long after they honored him with a signal mark of their confi- 
dence by requesting him to take under his command the State 
troops and Coast Guard raised by the State for its own defense, 
together with such militia as should be ordered to the coast, and 
dispose them in such manner as he should judge necessary to pro- 
tect the inhabitants along the shore from the incursions of the 
enemy. The following is the full text of the order: — 

Resolved, That the following order to Major General Parsons be, 
and the same is, approved, and his Excellency, the Governor is de- 
sired to sign and transmit the same to Major General Parsons 
accordingly. 

State of Connecticut, hy the Captain General to Major General 
Parsons. 

Sir. — The desultory expeditions on the coast of this State, re- 
quiring the immediate attention of the Council of Safety to oppose 
the designs of the enemy and, if possible, compel them to desist 
from their present system of carrying on the war, I am advised by 
the Council to desire you to repair to the western part of this State 
and take under your command the State troops and Coast Guards 
who are raised for the protection of this State, and such of the 
militia as shall be ordered there, and such force from the Continental 
Army as may be sent for the protection of this State; and you are 
hereby empowered and authorized to dispose this force in such 
manner as you judge necessary for the purposes intended, subject, 
however to such orders from time to time as you may receive from 
me or the Council of Safety of this State; and you are hereby 
authorized and empowered to call forth such part of the militia of 
the Second, Fourth and Sixth Brigades within the State as you may 
judge necessary to repel any invasion of the Coast of this State; 
and also to undertake with the troops of this State, or such other 
force as you shall be provided with, any expedition against the 
enemy in any Post they occupy. And for this purpose, you are 
authorized and empowered to seize and impress any vessels, boats 
or other craft for transporting men, artillery or military stores 
necessary for any enterprise you may undertake. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 389 

You will from time to time inform me of the state of the enemy, 
their designs and intentions as far as may come to your knowledge, 
and of such military preparations as may be made in the western 
parts of this State in consequence of this order, and whatever in the 
course of executing your orders may occur by which the State may 
be affected. 

Given with the advice of the Council at Hartford, September 
10th, 1781. Jno'th Trumbull, 

Governor. 

Headquarters, near Dobb's Ferry, July 12, 1781, General 
Washington wrote to General Parsons: — 

Sir. — I have sent to request that you will be pleased to send one 
of your Aids-de-Camp to give orders to Brigadier General Water- 
bury for me, to put the whole of his troops in motion to-morrow 
morning and to march them to Mamaroneck or North Street, at one 
of which places he will receive further orders respecting the posi- 
tion he is to take. 

General Waterbury wiU move at the time appointed without fail, 
and give orders for the baggage to follow as soon as may be; as the 
Corps cannot be of any service while it continues at such a distance 
as it is at present from the Army. 

I am &c.. 
To General Parsons. G. Washington. 

On the 21st of July, a reconnaisance in force was made of the 
defenses on the upper part of New York Island. At eight 
o'clock in the evening of that day, about five thousand troops 
marched in four columns by as many different roads. The 
right, consisting of the Connecticut Division, twenty-five of 
Sheldon's Horse and two pieces of artillery, under the com- 
mand of Major General Parsons, marched by the North River 
road. Two Divisions under Major Generals Lincoln and Howe, 
with the Corps of Sappers and Miners and four field pieces, 
formed the next column and advanced by the Saw INIill River 
road. On the left of the Americans was the French right, con- 
sisting of the brigade of Bourbonnais with the battalion of 
Grenadiers and Chasseurs, two field pieces, and two twelve- 
pounders. Their left column was composed of Lauzun's 
Legion, one battalion of Grenadiers and Chasseurs, the Regiment 
of Soissonnais, two field pieces and two howitzers. General 



390 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Waterbury with the mihtia and State troops of Connecticut, 
was to march on the East Chester road, there to be joined by 
Sheldon's cavalry for the purpose of scouring Throg's Neck. 
Sheldon's infantry was to join the Duke de Lauzun and scour 
Morrisania, being covered by Scammell's light infantry, who 
were " to advance through the fields, waylay the roads, stop all 
communication and prevent intelligence from getting to the 
enemy." At Valentine's Hill the left column of the Americans 
and the right of the French effected a junction. The whole 
army. Parsons' Division in the lead, arrived at Kingsbridge 
about daylight, and formed on the heights back of Fort Inde- 
pendence, extending towards DeLancey's Mills ; while the Legion 
of Lauzun and Waterbury's Corps proceeded to scour Morris- 
ania and Throg's Neck, but with little effect as most of the 
Refugees had fled. A few, however, were caught and some 
horses brought off. The enemy were completely surprised. 
After spending the 22d and 23d in making a careful and 
thorough reconnaisance, the army marched back about six 
o'clock by the same routes, but in the reverse order, and reached 
the camp at Philipsburgh about midnight. 

Westchester County, during the Revolutionary War, was 
infested with marauding bands known as Cow-Boys and Skin- 
ners. The former were cattle thieves and made up of Refugees 
and Tories, and the latter, so called from their taking everything 
they could find, professed to be on the American side ; but the 
two sets had a good understanding with each other and plundered 
patriots and loyalists with equal impartiality. To repress these 
bands was not easy, for the guerrilla of to-day became the 
peaceable farmer of to-morrow, but Parsons believed their depre- 
dations could be stopped, and on the 28th wrote Washington to j 
that effect, suggesting measures to accomplish it. 

Camp, July 28, 1781. 
Sir. — From the intelligence I have received from the country and 
my own observation, I am convinced that the inhabitants in the rear 
of the Army are intimately connected with the Refugees who are on 
the roads in our rear, and at many times form part of the robbers 
who are constantly distressing the inhabitants and rendering it 
dangerous to pass the roads. I would, therefore, propose as a further 
security, that no persons under the description of volunteers be per- 






GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 391 

mitted to assemble in arms in the rear of the Camp, unless they are 
put under the command of such officers as shall be appointed by 
your Excellency, accountable to you, and that where there is reason 
to believe any of the inhabitants harbor or give intelligence to the 
Refugees, they shall be removed. A further regulation appears to 
be necessary to prevent plundering the inhabitants in our rear, and 
I know of none better than to order all plunder taken to be de- 
livered to the Commissary or Quartermaster General, whether taken 
by the regular troops or volunteers on pain of imprisonment. 

I am &c., 
To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

The inhabitants along the Sound lived in constant fear of 
attacks from the enemy and were continually urging that regular 
troops be stationed there for their defense. August tenth, 
Abraham Davenport wrote from Stamford, a place as much 
exposed as any on the border, asking Washington to detach 
some part of his Arni}^ as a guard, a request he would hardly 
have made had he understood the situation and the impossibility 
of granting it at this most critical period: — 

Stamford, August 10, 1781. 
Sir. — Your Excellency has undoubtedly been informed of the 
exijosed situation of this part of the country and of the frequent 
incursions of the enemy. Several inhabitants have been killed 
and wounded, and nearly sixty within a short time carried into 
confinement and robbed of their property, and unless some pro- 
tection is afforded, those who are of ability and inclination will 
retire into the country, and others will make their peace. The 
ardor of the people, (which is to be lamented,) has abated in con- 
sequence of their distresses, so that very little opposition is to be 
expected from them. If it be consistent with the general good 
for your Excellency to detach some part of the Army as Guards 
upon this representation, I have no doubt it will be done. General 
Parsons will inform your Excellency of the designs of the enemy 
against this Town and can give you any other information you 
desire. I am with esteem, Your Excellency's 

most obed't. Serv't., 
To General Washington. Abr'm. Davenport. 

Rochambeau, at the Wethersfield conference, had favored a 
southern campaign in preference to an attempt on New York, 



392 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

believing it impracticable to bring the large French ships of 
the Line into the Harbor, and that, without the assistance of the 
fleet, the city could not be successfully attacked. His plan, 
while not wholly abandoned, had beeen, at the instance of Wash- 
ington, contingently laid aside for the attempt on New York. 
The result of the several reconnaisances must have raised a 
doubt in Washington's mind as to whether anything more could 
be accomplished by the present expedition, for in a letter to 
Lafayette of July 30, he says : — 

I think we have effected one part of the plan of the cam- 
paign settled on at Wethersfield, that is, giving a substantial relief 
to the Southern States by obliging the enemy to recall a considera- 
ble part of their force from thence. Our view must now be turned 
towards endeavoring to expel them totally from those States, if 
we find ourselves incompetent to the siege of New York. 

Early in August Washington began his preparations for a 
possible abandonment of New York for the South. Indeed, 
events were now rapidly creating a state of affairs which left 
him no alternative. " The feeble compliance of the States with 
his requisitions for men hitherto, and the little prospect of 
greater exertions in the future," forbade the hope of any 
material increase in his Array ; three thousand Hessian troops 
arriving on the 11th of August had raised Clinton's force to 
eleven thousand men; Cornwallis, it was learned on the 15th, 
had marched down the Peninsula to Yorktown, and would prob- 
ably weaken his force by sending reinforcements to New York, 
though in fact none were sent, their departure having been 
prevented by the arrival of the French fleet; Count de Grasse 
had sent word that he would reach the Chesapeake by the end 
of August, and Lafayette's troops had been so disposed as to 
prevent the enemy^s escape through the Carolinas. Matters 
thus brought to a crisis, Washington was compelled for the 
time to abandon his designs on New York and turn his attention 
to the more promising field of operations on the Peninsula. 

On the 19th of August, both armies broke camp, the Amer- 
icans crossing the Hudson at King's Ferry on the next day, and 
the French between the 22d and 25th. Every effort was made 
to mislead both the Army and Clinton, as to the objective of the 






GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 393 

march, the roads being repaired towards Kingsbridge and Staten 
Island and a French bakery set up at Chatham. Misleading 
letters were also written to fall into the enemy's hands. March- 
ing to the head of the Elk, the troops were embarked on sailing 
vessels and arrived before Yorktown September 28. The 
place was completely invested on the 30th, and on the 19th of 
October, four years and two days after Burgoyne's surrender 
at Saratoga, Cornwallis surrendered to the allied forces the 
Posts of Yorktown and Gloucester, with about seven thousand 
British troops, together with his shipping and seamen. This 
event caused the fall of North's Ministry and virtually ended the 
war. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Heath Commands in the Highlands. Parsons Takes Charge 
OF THE Defense of Connecticut. Prepares to Attack 
L,LOYD^s Neck. Heath Fails to Support Him. The Con- 
necticut Troops Winter in the Highlands. As to Dis- 
abled Officers. Parsons' Farewell Address to His Troops. 
Resigns His Commission as Major General. 

August, 1781— July, 1782 

Before leaving for the South, General Washington issued the 
following instructions to ]\Iajor General Heath, whom he left 
in command in the Highlands : — 

Sir. — You are to take command of all the troops remaining in 
this Department, consisting of the two regiments of New Hamp- 
shire, ten of Massachusetts and five of Connecticut, the Corps of 
Invalids, Sheldon's Legion, the Third Regiment of Artillery, 
together with all such State troops and militia, , as are retained in 
service, and who would have been under my own command. 

The security of West Point and the Posts in the Highlands, is 
to be considered the first object of your attention. . . . The 
force now put under your orders, it is presumed, will be sufficient 
for the purpose, as well as to yield a very considerable protection 
and cover to the country, without hazarding the safety of the 
Posts in the Highlands. . . . The protection of the northern 
and western frontiers of the State of New York, as well as those 
parts of that and other States most contiguous and exposed to the 
ravages and depredations of the enemy, will claim your atten- 
tion. . . . Although your general rule of conduct will be to 
act on the defensive only, yet is not meant to prohibit you from 
striking a blow at the enemy's Posts, or detachments, should a 
fair opportunity present itself. 

The most eligible position for your Army, in my opinion, will 
be on the north side of Croton River, as well for the purpose of 
supporting the garrison of West Point, annoying the enemy and 
covering the country, as for the security and repose of your troops. 
Waterbury's brigade, which may be posted towards the Sound, 

394. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 395 

Sheldon's Corps^ the State troops of New York and other light 
parties, may occasionally be made use of to hold the enemy in 
check, and carry on a petite guerre with them, but I would recom- 
mend keeping your force as much collected and as compact as the 
nature of the service will admit, doing duty by corps instead of 
detachments, whenever it is practicable. 

It will not be expedient to prevent such militia as were ordered, 
from coming in, until the arrival of the Count de Grasse, or some- 
thing definite or certain is known from the southward; and even 
then circumstances may render it advisable to keep the enemy at 
New York in check, to prevent their detaching to reinforce their 
southern Army, or to harass the inhabitants on the seacoast. 

You will be pleased, also, to keep me regularly advised of every 
important event which shall take place in your Department. 

Given under my hand at Headquarters, this iQth day of August 
1781. 

These instructions imposed a very grave responsibilit}' upon 
Heath and his officers. With a force much inferior to Clinton's 
he was expected to defend the Posts on the Hudson and keep 
open the communication between New England and jNIiddle 
States, besides protecting the inhabitants. But thanks to the 
supineness of Clinton, the troops left in the Highlands had very 
little to employ them during Washington's absence in Virginia, 
beyond guarding against the predatory parties sent out from 
New York. 

Danburj, August 22, 1781, General Parsons presented the 
following memorial: — 

To his Excellency the Governor and Honorable Council of Safety 

sitting in Danhury : — 

The memorial of the subscriber showeth, that the State is 
indebted to him in several sums for his past wages and on other 
accounts to a considerable amount; that his attention to his duty 
in the Army necessarily prevented him from pursuing those meas- 
ures to secure lands in payment of the said debts, which other men 
not confined to the Army are at leisure to effect; that he conceives 
the design of the Act of the Assembly for disposing of the for- 
feited lands, is to pay their debts ; he, therefore, prays that an 
order may issue from this Board to enable your memorialist to take 
up so much of the forfeited lands in Colchester or Lyme or such 
other place as may be convenient, as at appraisal will amount to 



896 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the debt Government owes him; or if more eligible, that he may 
be at liberty to take lands in the town of Greenwich at their full 
value. I as in duty bound &c. Saml. H. Parsons. 

General Parsons having learned from his spies in New York, 
that it was the intention of the enemy, in case Washington should 
march to Virginia, to make a diversion in favor of Cornwallis 
by attacking various places on the coast, sent the following 
communication to the authorities of Connecticut: — 

The subscriber states for the consideration of the Governor 
and Council of Safety, the following facts: — 

That by intelligence he has received from New York on which 
he thinks he has reason to rely, the enemy's present intention is 
to undertake desultory expeditions upon the coasts of some of the 
States in the Union, if the Army under the command of General 
Washington should march to Virginia. That the Associated 
Loyalists at Lloyd's Neck at no time exceed three hundred men; 
that the garrison at Shongum near Smithtown on Long Island 
does not exceed fifty men; that the Fort on Lloyd's Neck is an 
irregular square, having a fosse about four feet deep and about 
the same width, nearly surrounding it; that 'tis f raised on every 
part; that upright pickets nearly of the same height and diameter 
are placed without the ditch and an abatis without the whole; 
that a passage into the Fort sufficient for a wagon is open, having 
neither gate nor any other obstruction; that near the center of the 
Fort is a block house made of four inch plank, but without loop- 
holes or any artificial preparations for firing and musketry; that 
on the walls of the Fort are mounted four long 12 pounders and 
two 8 pounders, and in the Fort is a brass 4 pound field piece; 
that in the day time they have within the Fort two men constantly 
and eight men at night, the rest of the garrison being in barracks 
and encamped from one hundred to three hundred yards from the 
Fort; that a Picket is kept by the enemy at a high bluff near the 
entrance of Huntington Harbor; that about two miles further 
west is a fine sandy beach, as he is informed, and no Picket is 
kept there or between that and the Fort; that he is informed that 
a body of men may be marched from this place to within two 
hundred yards of the Fort without great hazard of discovery. 
The naval strength in the Sound was, last Thursday, the " Asso- 
ciate " brig, fourteen 4 pounders, Capt. Hoit; one sloop, ten 9 
pounders, Capt. Thomas ; one sloop ten 4 pounders ; one ship 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 397 

twenty-four 9 and 4 pounders ; the Argo brig, fourteen 6 pound- 
ers ; the Keppel brig, ten 4 pounders ) one galley, the last two 
near Hart's Island. The ship is cruising in different places and 
the other armed vessels are usually dispersed from Huntington 
to Hempstead Harbor. The Fort Shongum mounts two 6 pound- 
ers and is of little strength. The disposition of the enemy's 
force on Long Island is as follows; at Jamaica, Ludlow's regi- 
ment, 350 men; at Flushing Fly, Arnold's Corps, about 200; 
between Jamaica and Bedford, Murray's Corps, about 150; at 
the fresh meadows in Flushing Bounds, the IQth Dragoons; at 
Brookline, the Grenadiers of the 47th Regiment and some of the 
late German recruits, neither of which corps are within support- 
ing distance of Fort Franklin or the Fort at Shongum. Consid- 
ering the importance of removing the enemy from the Post they 
occupy on Lloyd's Neck, the great expense and hazard to this 
State, particularly occasioned by the vicinity of that Post, it is 
submitted to your consideration whether it would not justify an 
attempt to carry the Fort by assault in the following plan or such 
other as shall be found more eligible, viz: that four or five hundred 
men be landed in the night and marched, if possible, undiscovered 
to the nearest distance to the Fort and attempt the possession of 
it by the gateway. This in the opinion of the subscriber, will 
probably succeed, provided the troops arrive within 300 yards of 
the Fort without being discovered, because, under those circum- 
stances, a rapid march from that distance will enable them to gain 
the Fort before the enemy can possibly form and recover from 
the confusion they will necessarily be thrown into. If a dis- 
covery should be made upon the troops landing, 'tis probable the 
enterprise will fail. Whether the peculiarly distressing situation 
of the inhabitants on the seacoast will warrant the attempt is sub- 
mitted to your consideration. Your obed's. servt., 

Saml. H. Parsons. 
To the Governor and Council of Safety, Hartford, Conn. 

In compliance with the request of the Governor and Council 
of the 10th instant, General Parsons proceeded to organize the 
defenses of the State along the shores of the Sound, and on the 
13th from New Haven and on the 17th from Stamford, reported 
his action to the Governor in the two following letters : — 

New Haven, Sept. 13, 1781. 
Sir: — A number of the militia ordered from Generals Ward's 
and Hart's brigades are in this town; their exact numbers I have 



398 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

not yet been able to ascertain, perhaps 300. I shall not dismiss 
such part as your Excellency and the Council ordered until I can 
satisfy myself of the enemy's further intentions. If proper ex- 
presses were established within every eight or ten miles from 
Stamford to this place and beacons erected at proper places, I 
think 300 men, besides the Coast Guard, stationed at this place 
would be sufficient, because this body of men with the Coast 
Guards, would be able in conjunction with the militia who could 
collect in a few hours, to give them such opposition as would 
retard their operations till a greater force should arrive. These 
ought to be formed in one battalion, that the whole shall be under 
one direction. I shall organize the detachments here in that man- 
ner and shall call into service such number of dragoons as I shall 
find necessary, for expresses, which I shall not be able to de- 
termine before I reach Stamford, for which I shall set out this 
morning. The fleet under Arnold passed Stamford yesterday, 
but I cannot think myself warranted in dismissing all the militia 
until I am able to ascertain their future intentions, which I hope 
will be in a few days. I find there is no regular supply of pro- 
visions for the men. If the Council will direct Mr. Barnard to 
order the provisions collected in this County to be sent to this 
town and to direct the issuing of them, the difficulty will be re- 
moved. This is necessary to be done soon, as the troops must 
otherwise disband; some rum is also necessary for them. Upon 
examination, I find a great deficiency of ammunition. Should the 
enemy make an attack here, the troops could not resist them for 
half an hour. I must beg the Council to provide at least 100,000 
cartridges more for this place as speedily as possible. The ar- 
rival of the Count de Grasse with twenty-eight sail of the Line, 
exclusive of De Barras' squadron, their landing 3000 men who 
had joined the Marquis, the capture of a ship of 22 guns in the 
Chesapeake and of a Packet with Lt. Rawdon on board, are now 
reduced to a certainty, and on the 5th inst. the advance of our 
Army was at the Head of the Elk. A rumor prevails that General 
Greene has had an action in Carolina, in which the enemy was 
defeated. I will thank your Excellency for the particulars if you 
have received them. I am with great respect &c., 

To Governor Trumbull. ^^^^^ ^- Parsons. 

Stamford, September 17, 1781. 
Sir. — After giving the directions I thought necessary at New 
Haven and the towns on the coast, I came to this place on Satur- 
day night, at which time a fleet of forty-three sail, three of which 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 399 

were armed vessels, appeared off Huntington, having come that 
day from Whitestone, where there then remained two ships and 
three armed brigs. The daylight was so far gone that it was 
impossible to determine from this shore whether the fleet went 
into the Bay, upon which, to prevent surprise, I immediately dis- 
patched expresses on the coast to New Haven, informing of the 
appearance of the fleet and that I could not then determine their 
intention, but would take the earliest and most effectual method 
to know whether they were bound up on a predatory expedition 
and to what object they would direct their force, and desired the 
information to be continued to Newport. For this purpose I 
immediately dispatched a boat to lie off Huntington that night 
so as to be able to inform whether the fleet went eastward, but on 
its return yesterday morning, they had not been able to discover 
the fleet. A brisk wind which lasted all night and gave oppor- 
tunity to the fleet to run far east, and the darkness of the night, 
prevented their seeing at a distance. I took every measure I could 
devise yesterday to satisfy myself whether they were gone east, 
but could gain no information satisfactory. Last, I sent into the 
Bay and Harbor near Lloyd's Neck, and on the return of the boats 
am informed the fleet is not at that place. I also sent a flag yes- 
terday with orders to return yesterday, but they have not yet 
arrived. I did not think it warrantable to call in a greater part 
of the militia on the then uncertainty of the force and intentions 
of the enemy, but to put the coast on their guard. The distant 
and heavy firing we hear this morning in the east makes me fear 
the enemy have gone that way, and have again landed, especially 
as a report prevails that some shipping has gone eastward from 
Sandy Hook (but of this I am not satisfied) ; however, should 
this be the case, I think that I have done all I ought under the 
circumstances to have done to prevent the misfortune. I think I 
have fallen upon such measures as will ensure pretty authentic 
intelligence from New York as often as once a week. This will 
be attended with some small expense which I wish your direction 
to engage. A report prevails that Admiral Digby has arrived and 
also of a naval engagement with Admiral De Barras', which is 
said to have issued against our Allies, and also of a large embarka- 
tion of troops, but none of these is yet sufficiently authenticated. 

I am with great esteem &c., 
To Governor TrumhuU. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Headquarters, Continental Village, September 19, 1781, 
Major General Heath wrote to Major General Parsons: — 



400 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Dear Sir. — Your favor of the 17th is just come to hand. In a 
letter I had the honor to receive from his Excellency, Governor 
Trumbull, dated at Hartford the 7th inst., his Excellency is 
pleased to express himself as follows : — 

" General Parsons, who was returning to Camp, I have desired 
to remain in the State for the present." My reply in a letter of 
the 10th was: — " I wish Major General Parsons to join the Army 
as soon as his presence at the eastward, can be dispensed with." 
. At this particular time, when the enemy in New York 
may be supposed to be peculiarly active, with design, if possible, 
to relieve Lord Cornwallis, and when many places are threatened, 
it is both my wish and expectation that all officers whom I have 
the honor to command, will be with their respective commands, 
that I may have it in my power to make such detachments as the 
good of the service, my country and my superiors have a right 
to expect. Every part of the country which is committed to my 
care, or supposed to be entitled to protection from the Army, 
may depend upon receiving aid as far as circumstances will per- 
mit, and for which, comformable to my instructions, I hold myself 
accountable. 

From several circumstances, I am led to conclude that the fleet 
which passed up the Sound on Saturday, is not designed against 
the towns in the vicinity of Stamford. 

I have heard nothing of Major Lawrence; hope no accident has 
befallen him. I am with regard, dear Sir, &c., 

W. Heath, M. General. 
To Major General Parsons. 

Lloyd's Neck, September 16, 1781, Colonel Upham, the 
British Commissary of Prisoners at that Post, writes to General 
Parsons : — 

Dear Sir. — Your Aid-de-Camp, Captain Walker, wiU inform 
you of the present situation of the persons lately escaped from the 
Simsbury Mines; on that subject I have conversed with Captain 
Walker and from him you will learn my sentiments. 

I most heartily join with you in desiring that persons who may 
at any time be so unhappy as to be made prisoners, should be 
liberated as soon as will consist with the public views, we are on 
each side pursuing; have therefore, consented to the exchange of 
Mr. Hewin and John Bell for Lieutenant Smith; Bell will be 
sent out as soon as possible. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 401 

The Reverend Mr. Mather is also to be exchanged for the Rev. 
Mr. Badoin; the former will be sent with Mr. Bell. Phinehas 
Waterbury and Saml. Richards will go out at the same time in 
exchange for Lyon and Hait, now at Hartford; as to the others 
now in confinement with us, I beg leave also to refer you to Cap- 
tain Walker for my sentiments and the steps I have taken. 

I honestly confess to you I believe Jack, the Sailor and his 
companion are vile deserters, and leave you to treat them as you 
may think proper. Am not possessed of the names of the prison- 
ers taken at New London, but am happy to inform you they are 
gone back exchanged. 

I have the honor to be &c., 
To General Parsons. J. Upham. 

Rev. Moses Mather was the Pastor of the Church at Darien, 
Connecticut, and a distant connection of Parsons' wife. With 
forty members of his congregation he had been taken prisoner 
the 22d of the previous July, by a party of British Refugees 
from Long Island, who surrounded the church during the Sun- 
day afternoon service, and, tying their captives two and two, 
marched them with the venerable Pastor at their head, to the 
Sound, across which they were shipped to Lloyd's Neck and 
thence taken to and imprisoned in New York. 

Norwalk, October 10th 1781, Colonel Stephen St. John 2d. 
writes to General Parsons : — 

Dear General. — I have to solicit once more a permission for 
myself and son to return to New York to answer our paroles. We 
have hitherto been detained in consequence of explicit orders from 
Colonel Skinner, Commissary General of Prisoners, and the in- 
junction laid on us by your Honor of the l6th of September last, 
but hope those difficulties that then subsisted are now removed 
and that we may have your Honor's permission to return to New 
York again immediately. 

I am with sincere respect 
Your most obed't and most humble serv't., 

^ -. , „ , „ Stephen St. John 2d. 

lo Major General Parsons. 

October 13, General Parsons writes to General Trumbull, 
calling his attention to the destitute condition of the troops of 
the Connecticut Line, and asking for a supply of clothing: — 



402 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Sir. — I hope I shall be forgiven when I remind your Excellency 
of the state of your troops in respect to their clothing. The cold 
weather is now coming on and those who are now fit for duty will 
be rendered unfit, and those who are now badly provided with 
clothing will exceedingly suffer. 'Tis our misfortune that our 
summer clothing is provided in the fall and our winter garments 
in warm weather, or, too often, not at all. I don't know of any 
continental supply provided and I fear we shall greatly suffer 
unless the State furnishes woolen clothing for its soldiers speedily. 
'Tis disagreeable to complain. I know the State is greatly em- 
barrassed, but 'tis my duty to inform you that the troops will soon 
be naked unless clothing is provided. I have no other place to 
complain but to the State and such measures as are necessary I 
hope will be taken to prevent the misfortune. The troops have 
received a little money, which is certainly a great relief to them, 
but this was not designed to clothe the soldiers nor is the sum 
received sufficient, besides I fear our dependence of a speedy 
supply of more money cannot be well founded when I see so very 
great proportions of the money paid expended so that there is no 
hope of its return to the State again. The officers, who in general 
have been scantily provided with clothing, are laying out their 
moneys to make themselves comfortable, and the soldiers devote 
the little they receive to paying their debts and procuring neces- 
saries. Most of the moneys so expended will not probably find 
their way back to our country. 

I am with esteem and resj^ect, 
To Governor Trumbull. Saml. H. Parsons. 

October 15, General Parsons writes to Governor Trumbull, 
as follows : — 

Sir : — Mr. Thaddeus Bell of Middlesex [the same mentioned 
in Upham's letter of the l6th ult.] has come from the Provost in 
New York on his parole for a short time, when he must return to 
his confinement unless he can effect his exchange for one, Conk- 
ling Shadden, now in Hartford Gaol. As there now seems to be 
an inclination on the part of the enemy to drop the matter they 
have so long contended with the State about, I could wish as 
many of our prisoners confined by the enemy might be liberated 
as we have proper subjects of exchange in our hands. The ene- 
my's fleet in New York are using every exertion to get to sea and 
were under some expectation of falling down to the Hook yester- 



J 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 403 

day. They have a number of fire-ships with them and I believe 
are designed to relieve Cornwallis; I hope they are too late. 
Major Lawrence has received the permit of the Council and will 
conform to it. I expect to leave this place in two or three days for 
Camp in the Highlands. At present there are no armed vessels 
in Huntington and but one in Oyster Bay. If boats can be pro- 
vided, I think it would be a good time to attempt the surprise of 
Lloyd's Neck, but I fear we cannot get boats in season. 

The lands granted me in Horseneck are appraised and sur- 
veyed. The contents are one hundred and fifty-one acres and a 
fraction, at four pounds, ten shillings per acre. The boundaries 
are enclosed. It will thank you, Sir, to direct the Treasurer or 
whomsoever is authorized to execute a good deed of warranty to 
me of the land and I will give up the securities on receiving the 
deed. I am with much esteem &c., 

To Governor Trumbull. Saml. H. Parsons. 

On the 16th, General Waterbury writes to General Parsons 
in regard to deserters he is sending him for examination : — 

Sir. — This morning came into camp three deserters from the 
British Fleet, which I send you for examination. Also one, John 
Lawrence, a deserter from the British troops, who came in about 
three weeks ago and formerly deserted from the regiment that 
Colonel Meigs had the command of. I have kept Lawrence under 
guard in order to send him to his regiment, but could not on ac- 
count of his ill state of health, and am 

Dear Sir, with respect &c.. 
To General Parsons. David Waterbury, B. Gen'l. 

Fort Franklin, October 19, 1781, Colonel Upham writes to 
Brigadier General Waterbury as to exchange of prisoners : — 

Sir. — I received a line a few days since from General Parsons 
enclosing two lists of prisoners proposed by him to be exchanged 
for each other. The list of prisoners to us contained amongst 
others, a Mr. Jesse Raymond; the list of prisoners to you con- 
tained amongst others, a Mr. Talcot. Mr. Raymond is coming 
from New York and will be allowed to go out provided you con- 
sent to his exchange for Talcot, who goes in this. 

I have the honor to be &c.. 
To Brig'd. Gen'l. Waterbury, or J- Upham, Lt. Colonel ^-c, 

the officer commanding at Stamford. 



404 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Lloyd's Neck, a broad promotory extending into the Sound 
and enclosing Huntington Bay on its west side, had for a long 
time been the center for illicit trading and the transmission of 
intelligence. It was defended by Fort Franklin, a description 
of which accompanied Parsons' communication to the Governor 
and Council of Connecticut submitting for their consideration, 
whether the danger of this Post to the State would not justify 
an attempt to carry the Fort by assault. It had long been the 
wish of General Parsons and the authorities of Connecticut, to 
break up this nest of the enemy. The following correspondence 
between Parsons and General Heath relates chiefly to this 
matter : — 

Headquarters, Continental Village, 

October 18, 1781. 

Dear Sir. — Your favor of the l6th came to hand this day with 
the intelligence communicated by Joseph Mosely, for which I 
thank you. His intelligence is corroborated by others which I 
have received, and I believe it true in almost every particular. 

The fleet of seventy sail seen by the privateer, is supposed to 
be a Spanish fleet going to Europe, the richest that ever sailed 
from America, said to have forty millions of dollars on board, 
which occasioned so strong a convoy. 

I am happy to hear that you have nearly completed your busi- 
ness as I wish your return as soon as possible, the more so as 
Lord Stirling is gone to the northward, and General Howe has 
crossed the North River. 

I should be happy in reducing the Works at Lloyd's Neck, but 
I think there is little prospect of its being done by militia or 
levies; it has been narrowly watched and would have been at- 
tempted before this time if it had been thought practicable by 
those who have the best knowledge of its situation &c. 

Delancey's Horse, yesterday morning, surprised a Horse Guard 
near Croton River, carried off" the guard, several wagoners and a 
number of horses. This and some other circumstances have in- 
duced me to direct Major Tallmadge to join Colonel Sheldon, to 
render the chain of troops on the lines more complete, and to rein- 
force the Horse, at present weak and much worn down by fatigue. 
No late news from the southward. 

I am with great regard. Dear Sir &c., 

W. Heath. 

P. S. — I must repeat my wishes to see you as soon as possible. 
To Major General Parsons. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 405 

Tuesday, October 23, 1781. 8 o'clock P. M. 

Dear Sir. — This moment I received a letter from a person in 
whose information I have the fullest confidence, of which the 
following is an extract. 

" The fleet, consisting of twenty-five sail of the Line, four of 
fifty and twelve frigates (no transports) were seen off the Never- 
sinks last Friday afternoon. They have between six and seven 
thousand troops on board the Men of War. About three thou- 
sand are left to defend New York and its dependencies. There 
are five fire-ships with the fleet. Should these fail of doing execution 
and the French fleet keep possession of the Bay, the plan is to 
run along side and throw the troops on board. An express boat 
arrived at New York last Friday morning from Lord Cornwallis 
in twenty-four hours. He was surrounded by land and would 
soon be by water. General Washington's Works were within 
three hundred yards of his Lordship. Twelve thousand shells 
were thrown from our Camp before the express came away. His 
Lordship is short of ammunition and entirely out of rum, but they 
boast of large magazines of corn. A fleet of fifty-seven sail under 
convoy of a fifty gun ship and two frigates met the grand fleet at 
the Hook." 

The informant left New York at 4 o'clock P. M. last Saturday. 

I am Sir, your humble servt., 
To Major General Heath. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Continental Village. 

Headquarters, Continental Village, .October 23, 1781. 
Dear Sir. — By your representation of the state of the Post and 
garrison at Lloyd's Neck and other circumstances stated in your 
letter to me of this date, I consent to your making a trial for the 
reduction of the Post and garrison, if upon further inquiry and 
consideration it should still appear eligible without risking too 
much. With this you will receive orders to Colonel Sheldon and 
General Waterbury, each to furnish you with such detachment of 
troops as may be necessary, and for Captain Brewster to aid with 
all the public boats under his charge except one which he is to 
reserve for the purpose of collecting intelligence. If the State 
of Connecticut or any individuals should think proper to lend aid 
of vessels or boats at their own risk and expense, they may do it, 
but nothing of this kind is to be done at the risk or expense of 
the United States. Wishing you success, 

I am with great regard. Dear Sir, &c., 
To Major General Parsons. ^^- Heath, M. General. 



406 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Headquarters, Continental Village, Oct. 23, 1781. 
Dear Sir. — Major General Parsons will apply to you for a 
detachment of the troops under your command for a particular 
purpose. You will please immediately on his call to furnish them 
properly officered and equipped. 

I am with great regard &c., 
To Brig. Gen. Waterhury. W. Heath, M. General. 

Headquarters, Continental Village, October 28, 1781. 

Dear Sir. — Your favor of the 26th with a plan of Fort Frank- 
lin, came to hand last evening. From the plan, the Work appears 
strong. The same apprehensions of danger which led the enemy 
to strengthen the Work, will probably lead them to vigilance. 
You must be the best judge of the probability of success from any 
art of strategem which you have or can avail yourself of, and the 
matter must be left much to your own discretion and the nature 
of things. I would not have the attempt made without such a 
prospect of success as will in a judgement of reason warrant the 
attempt. 

The troops are good, and will attempt anything you bid them, 
but your judgement must determine the practicability; for in that 
the troops will place their confidence. I must confess, I have 
very little expectation of the Fort being taken by assault. The 
particular circumstances related by you the other day induced me 
to consent to your making a trial. Any change of circumstances 
will naturally lead you to a new consideration of the practica- 
bility or impracticability of the attempt, and you must act ac- 
cordingly. If it is in your power to guide the enterprise in per- 
son, I do not object; you may in that also act your pleasure. 

I wish it may be soon determined whether your proposed at- 
tempt on Fort Franklin is practicable or not, that the plan which 
I had in contemplation before you mentioned it may be carried 
into execution. . 

I am with great regard, Sir, &c., I 

To General Parsons. W. Heath. 

Headquarters, Continental Village, October 31, 1781. 
Dear Sir. — Your favor of the 30th was handed me this morn- 
ing. I have before given my opinion fully on an attempt being 
made on the Post at Lloyd's Neck under the cover of shijiping, 
unless it were out of the power of the enemy to send a superior 
naval force, which cannot be the case at present. The fleet having 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 407 

returned to New York, the same objections subsist against every 
attempt on that Post except by surprise and strategem. The state 
of the moon and other circumstances for the present forbid all 
prospect of success in that way. 

As the two hundred men were ordered under your command for 
the particular purpose of making an immediate attempt on Fort 
Franklin, and some other enterprises were meditating by Major 
Tallmadge and are now probably nearly ready for execution, 
Major Prescott with the troops under him must return under the 
command of Major Tallmadge. Those belonging to General Water- 
bury's brigade and others belonging to the Army must return to their 
respective corps immediately. 

I am with great regard &c.. 
To Major General Parsons. W. Heath, M. General. 

Heath, in this matter, showed the same timidity, hesitation, 
lack of enterprise and fear of assuming responsibility which in 
great part caused the failure of his attempt on New York in 
1777. His half-hearted and uncertain support of Parsons 
invited defeat, and the ungracious tone of his refusal could only 
have embittered the natural disappointment resulting from the 
failure of a project from which so much had been hoped. The 
adverse influences inducing Heath to withdraw his co-operation 
and consent at the critical moment, may be inferred from the 
above letter from Heath to Parsons and from the following 
letter from General Parsons to his Excellency, Governor Trum- 
bull, dated, Stamford, 8th Nov., 1781 : 

Sir. — The trust the Council were pleased to repose in me by 
their vote of the 10th of September, having given them reasonable 
expectations of information of the progress made in the execu- 
tion thereof or the reason of the failure of any part of the pro- 
posed plan, I think it my duty to give your Excellency a detail of 
facts from the time I received your order until the expedition 
against the Post at Lloyd's Neck was laid aside, from which you 
will be able to know my embarrassments and the causes which I 
suppose conspired to defeat it. Immediately on my arrival in the 
western part of this State, I endeavored to inform myself par- 
ticularly of the state of the enemy's Post at Lloyd's Neck and 
soon became satisfied of the practicability of taking the Fort, and 
that the only danger lay in coming off without the aid of a naval 
force. I informed General Heath of my being at Stamford and 



408 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

of the object in view, and requested him to afford me such aid as 
he thought necessary. This letter Major Tallmadge sent accom- 
panied with one of his own, the contents of which I don't know, 
I received an answer from General Heath disapproving of my 
continuing on the coast for that purpose; and at the same time 
Major Tallmadge received a letter from General Heath in which 
he says, he forbid him to obey any orders from any person but 
himself. This, however, I was not informed of either by General 
Heath or Major Tallmadge. Thus matters rested until I went to 
camp where I made a written representation to General Heath, a 
copy of which I have enclosed, on which he on the 23rd of October 
gave his orders to make the attempt to reduce that Post. I ac- 
cordingly made every preparation to carry it into execution, and 
at considerable trouble and expense collected boats to transport 
the troops, and sent to New London to procure the shipping which 
we proposed to use for the purpose, but was determined to make 
the attempt without their aid if a fair opportunity presented 
before they arrived. Accordingly on the 27th and 28th of October 
we were prepared to embark and the weather proved favorable 
but on both those nights the enemy's shipping were under the 
north shore so as to prevent our going out without their observa- 
tion; this happened by a privateer of ours being at Greenwich 
which they came to block up. On this disappointment I con- 
cluded to postpone the attempt to the 6th Novr. when the night 
might favor our attempt and we could have the aid of ship- 
ping, and accordingly went to New London for the purpose, 
where the owners of the armed vessels readily agreed to assist 
in the enterprise and to hazard their own vessels, viz : one ship of 
sixteen nine pounders ; two brigs of sixteen six pounders ; one 
brig of sixteen four pounders and one schooner of twelve four 
pounders, a naval force decidedly superior to that of the enemy 
in the Sound. Under these circumstances I expected to sail by 
noon the 4th Novr. but on the third received the enclosed coun- 
termanding order. I had acquainted Genl. Heath of my going 
to New London and the design; Major Tallmadge also waited on 
Genl. Heath at the same time; copies of the several letters and 
orders respecting this matter I have enclosed. I hope some more 
fortunate person will have permission to effect what has been 
denied to me and that this Post which has been so exceedingly 
detrimental to the State will be broken up. 

I am with much esteem 
Your Excellency's most obedt. Servt., 
To Governor Trumbull. Saml. H. Parsons. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 409 

November 11, 1781, General Parsons writes to Governor 
Trumbull as to the winter quarters of the Connecticut 
Division : — 

Sir. — The troops going now into winter quarters and the bor- 
ders of the State left unguarded except by State troops, will it 
not be a great saving to the State to have part of the Connecticut 
Line in Horseneck, the rest in New London and the State troops 
take the coast guard. I am convinced they can as well be spared 
as left in the Highlands; if you are of that opinion, I wish you to 
apply to General Heath. 

I am with great esteem &c.. 
To Governor Trumbull. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Nothing came of this suggestion, for the Division went into 
camp at "Connecticut Village," just back from Constitution 
Island, reoccupying the huts built there by the troops the year 
before. General Parsons' ill-health and his domestice affairs 
took him from camp during most of the season. 

On July 10, General Parsons had written to the Board of 
War respecting the disabled soldiers of the Connecticut Line as 
follows : — 

Camp, July 10, 1781. 
Sir. — I had the honor of a letter from the Board of War by 
Captain Weed, and was encouraged by that to expect a speedy 
determination of the Board respecting the officers who appeared 
proper subjects for the Corps of Invalids. As the Army has never 
taken the field and the officers became necessary in Camp, I am 
obliged to trouble you again on the subject, and request that the 
officers for whom certificates were transmitted may be transferred, 
that their places may be supplied with such as are able to do 
duty, with the addition of Captain Parsons, for whom certifi- 
cates are enclosed. Of this number, Captains Parsons and Weed 
and Lieut. Belding would prefer going out on half pay, if it can 
be admitted. Captains Reed and Hodge prefer the Corps of 
Invalids, as do the other lieutenants who were named in my last 
letter. The many invalids and vacancies made by resignation 
since the arrangement in January, render it necessary that more 
officers should be soon appointed to do duty, which cannot be 
done until the determination of the Board of War is had re- 
specting the invalid officers. This becomes more particularly 
necessary at this time, as I have every reason to apprehend the 



410 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

resignation of much the greater part of my officers in a few 
days. 

The State of Connecticut has fed them upon promises of 
advancing them some little part of their wages from January to 
this time, and after fixing particular periods from time to time 
for the payment, have finally disappointed them of every farth- 
ing they have promised; and 'tis now more than fifteen months 
since they received one farthing from the public and they really 
are wretched. Your answer by the return of the Post will oblige, 

Your obedient servant, 

Saml. H. Parsons. 

P. S. — Lieutenant Mix has come in since writing the above, 
and has so far recovered his health as to perform his duties in the 
field. 

November 14, 1781, General Parsons writes to General Heath | 
as to the disabled officers of the Connecticut Line: — 

Sir. — Enclosed is a copy of a letter from the Board of War 
to me on the subject of disabled officers of the Connecticut Line, 
in consequence of which I have sent to Captain Parsons of the 3d 
Regiment, whose answer is enclosed, and to Lieut. Belding of the | 
First Regiment, who accepts the offer of the Board and con- | 
sents to retire. The proposals of the Board are understood to I 
grant these retiring officers the privileges and emoluments which 
were granted to the retiring officers on the last reform of the 
Army. The other officers referred to have not yet given their I 
answers. I have therefore to request that you will be pleased 
to report to the Board the consent of the before named officers 
to retire on the provision made for retiring officers on the late 
reform of the Army and that they be added to the list of the 
officers retiring on that reform, and that they have leave to return 
home that their offices may be filled. 

I am Sir &c., 
To Major General Heath. Saml. H. Parsons. 

The following is the letter from Captain Parsons enclosed 
in the above: — 

Peekskill, November 15th, 1781. 

Sir. — In consequence of provisions made by Congress for officers 
who, for sufficient reasons, wish to retire from the service, I think 
it my duty to inform your Honor that by reason of age and a con- 
stitution much impaired in service, I would wish to quit military 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 411 

employments as soon as I can settle my affairs and be reasonably 
satisfied that I am entitled to the same emoluments that other officers 
are under the denomination of deranged officers in the year eighty, 
I shall wait further directions in the matter, and have the honor 
to be 

Your obed't. serv't, 
To Major General Parsons. David Parsons. 

December 27, 1781, General Parsons wrote to General 
Washington on the same subject from Middletown in Connec- 
ticut, to which place he had removed his family : — 

Dear General. — After a long confinement to a sick bed, I have 
just recovered strength to be brought home, and am able to attend 
to a little business, though I have not strength to go abroad. 

The Board of War in a letter to me of the 23d of October, 
directed that the disabled officers of the Connecticut Line, might, 
if they consented, go out of service as retiring officers, a copy of 
which letter is enclosed. I have applied to all those who were re- 
ported as disabled officers, of which number. Major Abner Prior, 
Captains Parsons and Weed, Lieuts. Belding and Farmer of the 
Connecticut Line, desire to retire upon the terms offered and request 
to be reported to the Board of War as retiring officers. Colonel 
Durkee and the others who are invalids, refuse. 

I most heartily congratulate your Excellency on the important 
success of the campaign under your immediate direction, by which 
our Country must derive the greatest advantage if they have the 
spirit to improve this event properly. 

I am with the greatest esteem. 

Your Excellency's Obed't. Serv't, 

Samuel H. Parsons. 
To his Excellency, General Washington. 

April 10, 1782, General Parsons writes to General Horatio 
Gates : — 

" I am happy to hear you again think of aiding our Country with 
your services in the field, and, from my former experience with your 
friendship, I am induced to request a place in your family for 
Captain Joseph Walker of the Third Connecticut Regiment. He has 
been with me from my appointment as Major General to this time. 
Finding myself unable to continue longer in the Army, I am unwill- 
ing to disappoint the expectations of so good a character in return- 



412 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ing him to his regiment. I think you will be satisfied with him on 
acquaintance." 

Walker was the Aid-de-Camp who assisted Parsons in the 
Fairfield investigation, in which he displayed ability and good 
judgment. He graduated at Yale in 1765; December 15, 
1780, was appointed Aid-de-Camp with the brevet rank of 
Major. Not having been continued as a staff officer, as he 
desired, he returned to his regiment and subsequently was 
appointed Brigade Major of the Connecticut Brigade. 

The hardships and exposures of seven years' continuous serv- 
ice in the Army, dating from the Lexington Alarm in 1775, 
had so undermined Parsons' originally vigorous constitution, 
that, in the Spring of 1782, it became painfully evident to him 
that, however contrary to his inclinations, he must now no 
longer continue in active service. He accordingly determined 
to retire from the field, which he felt less reluctance in doing 
now that the war was virtually ended, knowing that his action 
would not be detrimental to the cause. 

After the surrender of Cornwallis, Washington, at the 
request of Congress, had remained four months in Philadelphia. 
On the 23d of March he left for Newburgh, where he arrived 
April 1 and established his Headquarters. Here, upon his 
arrival, he was met by the Generals in camp, by Parsons among 
the rest, who appears from his correspondence to have at this 
time presented to Washington the reasons for his proposed 
retirement, and, satisfying him that they were insurmountable, 
to have gained his approval, for on April 3, upon his return 
to his quarters. Parsons issued to his old command the follow- 
ing parting order: — 

Division Orders, April S, 1782. 
It is with regret that Major General Parsons finds himself 
obliged to inform the Division of the army under his command that 
his health is so impaired, he feels himself totally unable to continue 
his connection with them any longer. Duty and Inclination would 
have led him to have accompanied them with his service to the end 
of the war had not the state of his Health been such as to put it 
out of his Power. He takes this opportunity to express his cordial 
attachment to the Interest and Welfare of the army in general and 
of this Division in particular. The Intimacy and friendship with 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 413 

which he has spent seven years with many officers, and the harmony 
which subsisted with all, renders it affectionately painful to separate 
from them and has cemented an union which nothing but necessity 
should have interrupted — the feelings and pleasant remembrance of 
which nothing but Death shall obliterate. The Patience under dis- 
appointments and distresses, the obedience and attention to duty 
by which the Soldiers of the Connecticut Line have ever been dis- 
tinguished, will redound to their lasting honor, and endears them to 
every friend to the liberties of our country. 

The General begs the officers to accept his most hearty thanks 
for the many and repeated proofs he has received of their friend- 
ship and thinks it his duty to give his testimony to the fidelity, forti- 
tude and persevering constancy of both officers and soldiers since 
he has had the honor to command; and though he feels deprived of 
the pleasure any longer to unite his personal exertions with theirs, 
yet his Heart shall be with them in contending for the object of our 
long and united struggle. 

Congress had provided that officers upon being retired, should 
receive half pay for life or full pay for five years, a provision 
intended, not as a pension, but as compensation for services 
already rendered. But there was a question whether this pro- 
vision covered voluntary retirements, which greatly perplexed 
Parsons and caused him to hesitate, lest by making his resigna- 
tion absolute, he should deprive himself of his rights under the 
law. While determined to retire in any event, he was unwilling 
to throw away his claim to compensation if there was any way 
of avoiding it. He was ready to serve in an emergency should 
his health become restored, pending which he desired a leave of 
absence until such time as he should be regularly retired. His 
case was similar to that of General Putnam, who was disabled 
by paralysis in December, 1779, and never afterwards joined 
the Army, but was nevertheless carried on the rolls with full pay 
until the close of the war when he was retired on half pay for 
life. Washington, not deeming it within his powers to grant 
Parsons the kind of leave asked for, advised him to refer the 
matter to General Lincoln, then Secretary of War. 

The following letters of May 17 and June 5, to Wash- 
ington, were written for the purpose of arriving at some under- 
standing by which General Parsons might avoid " precluding 
himself from all hope of satisfaction for former serv^ices." 



414 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

MiDDLETOWN, May 17th, 1782. 

Dear General. — I received last week a letter from General 
Lincoln in answer to mine of the tenth of April on the subject of 
retiring from the army, in which he informs me that no general 
officer will be suffered to retire on the proposed derangement; and 
adds, if your want of health forbids your taking the field, I see 
nothing which will prevent your being indulged; this, however, is 
solely with the Commander-in-Chief, 

By this letter I find myself reduced to the necessity of relinquish- 
ing my connection with the army without prospect of any compensa- 
tion, or to request your Excellency's permission to continue in the 
country until I regain so confirmed a state of health as I may 
venture on the fatigues of a military life. 

I am willing the whole, or such part as shall be thought just, of 
all pay and subsistence promised me by the public should be sus- 
pended whilst I continue absent; and should active service require 
more general officers in the field than will be in camp, I will join 
on notice, but in that case I would not wish to resume the command 
of my former Division as there will always be something disagree- 
able in any officer returning to a command he is supposed to have 
quitted. 

As I feel myself at present totally unfitted to venture on the 
fatigues of the field, I would thank your Excellency for permission 
to continue in the country, otherwise I must make my resignation 
absolute and unconditional. 

I am with great esteem, 

Yr. Excellency's obt. servt., 
To General Washington. S. H. Parsons. 

MiDDLETowN, June 5th, 1782. 
Dear General. — You certainly fully understood me when you 
supposed me fixed in my determination of leaving the army at all 
events. The reasons I then assigned were such as I could not sur- 
mount, and they continue in full force at this time. But the matter 
being undecided when I last saw you, whether a derangement of 
general officers would take place agreeable to a resolve of Congress, 
and that being the only mode in which I could retire without re- 
linquishing all hope of compensation for past services, it was your 
Excellency's advice to write to the Minister of War on this subject. 
On his answer to my letter, I wrote your Excellency the 17th of 
May and have received your answer of the 28th. My design was 
solely to know whether your Excellency, whom we justly esteem as 
our friend and patron, could not place me in such circumstances as 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 415 

would answer my wishes without making my resignation absolute 
so as to preclude myself from all hope of satisfaction for former 
services. 

On the subject of resuming a command again in the army, I meant 
to be understood that if any such emergency should happen that 
more general officers should be wanted than were at the time in 
service, I should not be averse to taking command again for a short 
time during the continuance of such necessity ; but the reasons which 
prevailed with me to retire are still in full force against returning 
to a fixed stated command in the army. 

And since tis not within your authority to grant me the indul- 
gence requested, I must apply to Congress for the liberty I wish, 
or for an absolute discharge, which shall not be delayed longer than 
next post. 

Colonel Durkee of the 1st. Connecticut regiment was buried last 
Thursday. 

I am with sentiments of esteem. Dear General, 

Yr. obedient servant, 
To General Washington. S. H. Parsons. 

The opinion of the Secretary of War being that voluntary 
retirements were not covered by the provisions of the statute, 
and the Commander-in-Chief not having authority to grant the 
kind of leave asked for, General Parsons made the following 
application to Congress : — 

MiDDLETowN IN CONNECTICUT, June 6, 1782. 

Sir. — After seven years' service in the Army of the United States, 
I find my health so far impaired as to forbid a further stated 
service in the field; and the Commander-in-Chief not being author- 
ized to comply with my wishes on the subject, although he is desirous 
of granting me every indulgence he has authority for, I am compelled 
to turn to Congress with my request. 

After so long a service in the Army of the United States, which 
I began with the purest motives, and to which I still retain the 
greatest attachment, I cannot feel myself willing totally to break 
my connection with them, and though I am convinced my health 
will not permit me to continue a stated service with them, perhaps, 
should events render it necessary for a greater number of officers 
of my rank to be in the field for a short time than will remain there, 
I may be able to perform that service. If that should be the case, 
I should be happy in having it in my power to continue my aid to 
the objects of my country's pursuit. 



416 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Under these circumstances I have to request of Congress leave 
of absence from the Army until called for, that I may have the 
means in my power of regaining and establishing my health, and 
that during my absence I may be at liberty to remain in the United 
States or go to foreign parts as I shall find most conducive to the 
purposes for which I request this indulgence. 

In the meantime I am willing to relinquish the whole or such part 
of my public pay and emoluments as Congress in their wisdom shall 
judge proper. 

But should this request be inconsistent with the views of the 
public, I then request leave to resign my commission and that Con- 
gress will please to grant me a discharge. 
I am with great respect. Sir, 

Yr. Excellency's obed't. servt., 

rwi 1 ^ • 1 /. ^ Saml. H. Parsons. 

To the President of Congress. 

Congress not making a favorable response to his request for 
a special furlough, General Parsons, feeling that a release from 
service, for a time at least, was imperatively necessary in the 
present condition of his health, resigned his Commission as 
Major General in the Continental Army without conditions, 
which was duly accepted by Congress and an absolute discharge 
granted on the 22d of July, 1782. 

Parsons was now forty-five years old and had served con- 
tinuously as Colonel, Brigadier General and Major General 
since his appointment as Colonel of the Sixth Connecticut, 
April 26, 1775. In retiring from the Army, he must have 
carried with him a feeling of satisfaction that events had 
proven the correctness of his judgment when he advocated an 
appeal to arms. Great Britain had sent to America 112,584 
soldiers and 32,000 seamen, and all that now remained to her of 
her great possessions, after the expenditure of so much blood 
and treasure, were the three ports of Charleston, Savannah and 
New York. She was too much exhausted to continue the war 
and too proud to make peace. The fall of Lord North's 
Ministry was the first acknowledgment of defeat, and with the 
new Cabinet came an entire change in the determinations of the 
Government respecting the war. This was not known at the 
time and for that reason there was no relaxation of vigilance 
during the year 1782, but the orders to Sir Guy Carleton, who 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 417 

succeeded Clinton in the command at New York, were to begin 
preparations immediately for the abandonment of all his 
Majesty's possessions in the thirteen Colonies. In pursuance 
of these orders, Savannah was evacuated on the 11th of July 
and Charleston on the 14th of December, the American Army 
entering amid cheers and shouts of welcome. But New York 
remained in the enemy's hands until some months after the 
definitive treaty of peace had been signed, and the last British 
soldier did not sail until the 25th of November, 1783, when 
Washington and his troops made a formal entry into the city. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

William Heron of Redding and Sir Henry Clinton's " Secret 
Service Record " 



The following letter, preserved among the Washington Papers 
in the State Department at Washington, was written by 
General Parsons three or four days after his visit to Head- 
quarters at Newburgh, upon the General's return from 
Philadelphia : — 

Danbury, April 6, 1782. 

Dear General. — When last with you I forgot to mention the 
name of Mr. William Heron, of Redding, who has for several years 
had opportunities of informing himself of the state of the enemy, 
their designs and intentions with more certainty and precision than 
most men who have been employed; as I have now left service I 
think it my duty to inform your Excellency of this person, and my 
reasons for believing him more capable of rendering service that 
way than most people are, that he may be employed if necessary. 

He is a native of Ireland, a man of very large knowledge, and a 
great share of natural sagacity, united with a sound judgment; but 
of as unmeaning a countenance as any person in my acquaintance. 
With this appearance he is as little suspected as any man can be; 
an officer in the department of the Adjutant General is a country- 
man and very intimate acquaintance of Mr. Heron, through which 
channel he has been able frequently to obtain important and very 
interesting intelligence; that he has access to some of their secrets 
a few facts will show beyond a doubt. Your Excellency will remem- 
ber I informed you of the contents of a letter you wrote to Vir- 
ginia which was intercepted a year ago but not published. This 
letter his friend shew him. Of the descent made last year on 
New London, I was informed by him and made a written representa- 
tion of it to the Governor and Council three days before it took 
place. This he had through the same channel. He has frequently 
brought me the most accurate descriptions of the posts occupied by 
the enemy and more rational accounts of their numbers, strength 

418 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 419 

and designs than I have been able to obtain in any other way. As 
to his character I know him to be a consistent national whig; he is 
always in the field on every alarm and has in every trial proved 
himself a man of bravery; he has a family and a considerable in- 
terest in this State and from the beginning of the war has in- 
variably followed the measures of the country. I might add as a cir- 
cumstance of his fidelity his delivering a letter from General Arnold 
to Major Andre to me instead of bearing it where it was directed, 
which letter you have. In opposition to this his enemies suggest he 
carries on an illicit trade with the enemy; but I have lived two 
years the next door to him and am fully convinced he has never 
had a single article of any kind for sale during that time, nor do I 
believe he was in the most distant manner connected with commerce 
at that time or any subsequent period. I know many persons of more 
exalted character are also accused, none more than Governor Trum- 
bull nor with less reason. I believe the Governor and Mr. Heron 
as clear of this business as I am, and I know myself to be totally 
free from everything which has the least connection with that com- 
merce. 

I think it my duty to give this full information of his character, 
that, if you should think it expedient to employ him, you might 
have some knowledge of the man that you might be better able to 
satisfy yourself if you send for him. I believe on conversation he 
would give you entire satisfaction. 

I am, dear General, with the highest esteem. 

Your Excellency's obedient servant. 
To General Washington. Samuel H. Parsons. 

When Heron asked his assistance in procuring a flag of truce 
to go into New York, Parsons, in his note to General Arnold of 
August 20, 1780, recommended him with similar cxpi'cssions of 
confidence. " Mr. Heron is a neighbor of mine for whose integ- 
rity and firm attachment to the cause of the country I will hold 
myself answerable. I am certain he will conduct with strict 
honor every matter he undertakes." It was at this time that 
Arnold gave Heron the letter to Major Andre referred to in the 
foregoing letter, which Heron, suspecting something wrong, 
brought home to Parsons instead of delivering it in New York 
as requested. 

Heron's home was on Redding Ridge where Parsons' family 
had lived for two years, having, removed there at the time the 



420 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Connecticut Division was encamped at Redding in the winter 
of 1778-9. At this time Heron had become somewhat prom- 
inent, having been elected to the Legislature in 1778, and 
it was probably during this winter that Parsons first became 
acquainted with him. Finding that he had unusual oppor- 
tunities for " informing himself of the state of the enemy," 
Parsons very soon began to employ him as a spy. So far as 
can be learned, Heron served him faithfully, furnishing more 
accurate and precise information than most men employed for 
that purpose, forewarning him of important plans of the 
enemy, such as Arnold's intended descent on New London in 
September, 1781, and bringing him Arnold's letter to Andre 
mentioned above. 

But letters written by Heron to the British Commander in 
New York, found in the recently discovered manuscript of Sir 
Henry Clinton's " Secret Service Record of Private Daily Intel- 
ligence," disclose the fact that, at the time he was acting as a 
spy for Parsons, he was also communicating intelligence to the 
enemy, and that he enclosed in one of his own letters an alleged 
letter of Parsons in answer to one from himself, which he pre- 
tended was written under an arrangement by which Parsons 
was to furnish in this form " every material article of intelli- 
gence." These letters of Heron have been made the basis of a 
slanderous charge against Parsons of treasonable correspon- 
dence with the enemy. This charge is so utterly absurd and 
improbable and comes from such a prejudiced source, that it 
would never have been deemed worthy of notice had it not been 
carelessly repeated in more responsible quarters, and the act 
defended by the astonishing declaration that " if the historian 
is to consider all damaging uncorroborated statements, charges 
that ought to go for naught till other evidence is adduced, he 
will find that little history can be written." So stirred to 
indignation were Senator Hoar and our late Minister to Por- 
tugal, Hon. George B. Loring, that the latter, at the instance 
of Mr. Hoar, prepared a pamphlet in refutation of the charge, 
which has been pronounced unanswerable by such men as Judge 
Devens, George William Curtis, Wayne McVeigh, Judge 
McCurdy, Rev. Dr. Peabody and Senator Hoar, the latter of 
whom said to Mr. Loring, " You have rendered a greater serv- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 421 

ice to General Parsons than if you had saved his Hfe." This 
pamphlet Mr. Loring dedicated to Gen. W. T. Sherman. In 
preparing this biography, the writer has discovered additional 
facts which materially strengthen Mr. Loring's argument, the 
statement of which in their proper connection is his apology 
for reopening the matter. 

Heron's true character is certainly an enigma, but on its 
correct solution depends to a considerable extent the construction 
to be put upon his acts. The only letters of his known to be in 
existence are believed to be the few which appear in this chapter, 
and the inferences to be drawn from these and from the scanty 
facts concerning him which have come down to us, furnish the 
sole key to the problem. More full and precise information 
regarding him would be desirable, but from even the meager 
data at hand it is possible to arrive at a reasonably satisfactory 
conclusion. 

Parsons describes Heron as " a man of very large knowl- 
edge, of great natural sagacity united with a sound judgment, 
but of as unmeaning a countenance as any person in my 
acquaintance." To have carried on for so long a time without 
exciting suspicion the double espionage which the " Record " 
seems to disclose, would have been impossible except for a genius 
in the detective's art. His letters show a remarkable grasp and 
comprehension of affairs, but he cannily fills them with his own 
views and opinions rather than with facts. Todd's history of 
Redding, written a hundred years after these events, represents 
him as a man of much ability and force of character, who 
sported a gold-headed cane, wore laced waist-coats, ruffles and 
velvet breeches, and whose favorite remark in speaking of the 
common people, was, " We must keep down the underbrush." 
He is said to have taught school and surveyed the old stage 
route from New York to Boston, and to have had great influence 
in public affairs. Todd states that when the British on their 
way to Danbury in April, 1777, halted near the church in 
Redding, Generals Tryon, Agnew and Erskine were invited 
into Esquire Heron's, who lived next the church, and enter- 
tained with cake and wine and many hopeful prognostications 
of the speedy collapse of the rebellion. He does not claim, how- 
ever, that the " Squire " was at home, for Parsons says " he 



422 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

was always in the field on the first alarm," nor that the Generals 
did not invite themselves in, when the ladies could not well have 
done otherwise than entertain them. But had Heron been at 
home hobnobbing with Tryon and proclaiming his friendship 
for the British, while poor Captain Betts (who lived opposite), 
and patriot James Rogers, and ten-year-old Jeremiah Sanford, 
were being seized by Tryon's soldiers and hurried off as 
prisoners (the poor lad dying two months later in the prison 
ship in New York), it is more than probable that some of the 
same Sons of Liberty who threatened to shoot good Rector 
Beach if he prayed for the King, would have retaliated on 
Heron with a halter, instead of sending him to represent them 
in the Connecticut Assembly in 1778, 1779, 1780 and 1781, 
and again after the war for the seven years beginning with 
1784, and in 1795 and 1796, thirteen years in all. He could 
not have been, as Todd says the tradition is, "the recognized 
leader of the company of Tories on Redding Ridge," unless we 
suppose that posterity confounded aristocrats with Tories, but 
must have been believed by all to be, both during and after the 
war, what Parsons and Trumbull, Stark and Putnam, and the 
leading civil and military officers of the State evidently thought 
him, " a consistent National Whig," who " invariably followed 
the measures of his country," and " in every trial proved him- 
self a man of bravery." Had he been thought otherwise, it 
would have been impossible that he should have been selected 
along with the most eminent and patriotic men in the State for 
the distinguished honor of a seat in the most important assembly 
up to this time held in Connecticut, the Convention for adopt- 
ing the Constitution of the United States, in favor of which we 
find Heron's name recorded. Neither, in 1777, would he have 
been chosen by his town as one of a Committee " to hire soldiers 
to serve in the Continental Army ; " nor, in 1779, have been 
appointed by the General Assembly one of a Committee to 
inquire into and estimate the losses of individuals at Norwalk 
in consequence of Tryon's raid; nor again, in 1780, to inquire 
into the conduct of persons employed in the Quartermaster and 
Commissary General's Departments, with power to remove 
delinquents. This much is certain, that we nowhere find the 
least suspicion of disloyalty attaching itself to his character, 



I 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 423 

or the least question raised as to his truthfulness and honest v. 
It is true that he was charged with illicit trading, but so were 
Clinton and Trumbull, and without a shadow of truth. Such 
charges were the resort of the guilty to cover their own opera- 
tions. He had business interests in New York and many 
friends ; one a countryman and very intimate acquaintance, who 
was in the Adjutant's Office; another, one McNeil, who, as 
Heron writes Parsons, January 5, 1781, "had almost closed 
the settlement of the late Mr. Thompson's estate and was ready 
to pay him a sum due him in compliance with a charge of 
Thompson's on his death bed." We find him going to New 
York in April, 1781, by a boat which was captured by the 
" Argo," and in June, as he says, by Parsons' assistance, and in 
July under a permit from Trumbull to cruise in the Sound. 
But Parsons, who knew Heron as a professional spy, as others 
did not, was well aware that these trips were for espionage and 
not for trade, and that they were the means by which was 
obtained the valuable information as to the Posts, strength and 
designs of the enemy which he was thus enabled to transmit from 
time to time to the Commander-in-Chief 

Such was Heron as he appeared to the world — a man of high 
reputation and irreproachable character and faithful to the 
interests of his adopted country. The record of his treason, 
if such were his crime, and all that we know concerning it, is 
contained in the Robertson dispatch of September 4, 1780, 
(Colonial Documents of New York, Vol. 8, p. 804) ; in Heron's 
three letters and minutes of three conversations found in the 
stray volume of Sir Henry Clinton's Secret Record of Private 
Daily Intelligence, discovered in 1882 and published, with copi- 
ous notes, in the " Magazine of American History," beginning 
October, 1883, and ending August, 1884, and in a letter to 
Clinton of March 4, 1782, printed in the October, 1888 number 
of the same magazine. The " Record " is a thin quarto blank 
book into which the reports of spies and secret agents were 
copied daily. It begins January 20, 1781, and ends on the 19th 
of the following July, nearly one-half of the book still being 
blank. The entries purport to be copies of supposed originals, 
but whether the supposed originals are genuine, or, if so, whether 
the copies are accurately made, no one knows ; and unless both 



424 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

are proven to be so, the entries alone of course, are no evidence 
of the truth of their contents. These letters, assuming them to 
be genuine and correctly copied, apparently convict Heron of 
treasonable correspondence with the enemy ; apparentl}', I say, 
because it is by no means certain, however much appearances 
may be against him, that these letters do not merely disclose 
the methods of a shrewd, audacious spy in plying his trade. 
A close study of these documents in connection with contem- 
poraneous events, impresses one very strongly that Heron's 
chief motive was not a desire to serve the enemy. His letters 
have an air of insincerity and lack the precision and directness 
which characterize most of the other entries in the " Record." 
He is very cautious in his statements ; deals in generalities rather 
than particulars ; in opinions rather than facts, never warns 
the enemy of important movements or gives information likely 
to affect their military plans. The intelligence he furnishes is 
usually vague, or immaterial, or already well known, and in 
strong contrast to that of other spies, which is generally fresh 
and up to date. His memory is apt to fail him as to important 
matters. Very little of the valuable information which he pre- 
pares and conceals in a hole in a wall for an assistant to remove, 
ever reaches Headquarters. He is always sorry, but it was not 
his fault. His reports are exceedingly interesting and gossipy, 
but the Adjutant General usually finds it necessary to supple- 
ment them with a series of pointed questions of his own. 

In his conversation with General Robertson of September 4, 
1780, Heron had much to say of Parsons' interview with Mr. 
Izard. This occurred two months before. Concerning the Con- 
tinental Brigades, he cannot be positive. Connecticut has two — 
Parsons' and Huntington's ; New Hampshire one — Poor's — 
which, last spring had but three hundred men, as he well knew. 
He does not recollect the Pennsylvania Generals. He had not 
heard what precise number had gone from Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire. Washington's Army had ten or eleven thou- 
sand men last month. 

February 4, 1781, he writes that the brigades in the High- 
lands " were not each six hundred strong, when I was there " 
(November or December, 1780, before the reorganization). 
He gives a minute account of Colonel Humphreys' attempt to 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 425 

seize Sir Henry Clinton in New York on Christmas day, 1780. 
He states the object of the Convention held at Hartford in 
November, 1780. He also enclosed the minutes of the Assembly 
for December of that year. 

June 17, 1781, he writes that he was in the Assembly the 14th 
of May, when letters of great importance from General Wash- 
ington were read, setting forth the deplorable state of the 
troops at West Point and its dependencies, for want of pro- 
visions. " At this critical moment, Sir, I found myself in need 
of a confidential friend out of doors, who could convey hither 
this state of affairs ; but it being early in the session, I did not 
dare leave my post." The same date he writes, " I prepared 
dispatches for you and left them at the appointed place, and I 
find they are taken away, but whether by Bulkley, or any other 
person, I know not. They contained, among other matters, an 
account of the intended route of the French troops ; likewise an 
account of the state of West Point and its dependencies." And 
again, July 15 ; " It is not my fault that you have not heard 
from me before now. I left two packets at the place appointed, . 
for Bulkley to take them, one on the 28th ult. and the other on 
the 4th inst. When I came to the place a second time, I was sur- 
prised to find the first packet there, but more so now when I 
found both there unmoved." 

Heron's promises, as a rule, are largely in excess of his per- 
formance, and he always accompanies his reports with sus- 
piciously loud protestations of zeal and loyalty, and never 
misses an opportunity for exaggerating the importance and 
value of his services, apparently for some ulterior purpose. In 
the report of his conversation with General Robertson, he says: 
" Till April last he was in the Assembly and a member for 
County correspondence; is now in office respecting the public 
accounts. He stands well with the officers of the Continental 
Army ; with General Parsons he is intimate and not suspected." 
February 4th, he writes : " When I was in the Highlands, I 
spent a night with Parsons and another with Stark. I am on 
the best of terms with them both. The latter with his family, 
stayed a night at my house since." " There are few who are let 
into the secrets of the Cabinet, nor could I know them were it 
not for my intimacy with some of the principal officers in the 



426 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

civil and military departments arising from my having been a 
member of the Legislature and being still continued one of a 
committee to examine staff accounts." April 24, he writes : 
" I shall be in a situation this summer to render essential serv- 
ice, having carried my election against Judge Sanford, one of 
the first families in the place. It is needless to observe that in 
the General Assembly of Connecticut enter all the material con- 
cerns of our political system ; that secret advices from Congress, 
from Washington and from abroad are there canvassed, the 
early knowledge of which may be of consequence in order to 
avail yourself of it." 

Neither does Heron in his letters fail to let fall some hint 
about money, which is always done in a most incidental and dis- 
interested way. March 11, he speaks of Parsons' " mercenary 
disposition," intimating that money will be needed to bring him 
over. February 4, he says Parsons will expect for his serv- 
ices " a reasonable compensation for his commission." June 
20, he says : " Something generous ought to be given in hand, 
but (in my opinion) not so much as I know he would ask. In 
this service it would not be amiss for me to be able to tell him 
what he may expect at present. I urge this to prevent his 
making an unreasonable and extravagant demand." July 15, 
" He will expect some money by me this time, but how to get it 
here I know not, as I would not wish to have any person besides 
yourself, or those you can confide in, made acquainted with any- 
thing of this nature. . . . Should any money be sent to 
our friend, it will be best to put it up in something like a belt." 
Evidently, 

" He knew enough to annotate the Bible verse by verse, 

" And how to draw the shekels from the British public purse," 

which seems to have been his main object, not for Parsons, how- 
ever, but for himself. 

The information which Heron furnishes Parsons, on the 
other hand, is of real and immediate service. Instead of indulg- 
ing in extended essays on the situation, he brings " accurate 
descriptions of the enemy's Posts and rational accounts of their 
numbers, strength and designs." Instead of writing ancient 
history, he gives warning of proposed movements in time to 



I 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 427 

guard against them. Instead of useless prophecies as to the 
future, he brings home to Parsons, Arnold's letter to Andre, the 
delivery of which as requested, might have determined the fate 
of West Point. We hear no boastings or protestations, but he 
is " always in the field on every alarm, and in every trial proves 
himself a man of bravery." 

There is no doubt, however, that after having as a member 
of the General Assembly, taken an oath that " he would to the 
utmost of his power, maintain and defend the freedom, independ- 
ence and privileges of his State against all open enemies or 
traitorous conspiracies whatsoever," Heron did, if we may 
believe his statement, on the 17th of June, communicate to the 
British Headquarters a full and accurate account of what 
occurred in the Assembly during the previous month ; for 
instance, that on the 14th of May, General Heath presented to 
the Assembly letters of Washington of the 10th and 12th, stat- 
ing, among other things, the deplorable condition of the gar- 
rison at West Point for the want of provisions, and declared 
before the Assembly that the garrison must inevitably fall ; and 
that on the 24th of May, upon the termination of the con- 
ference at Wethersfield between Washington and Rochambeau, a 
long letter from General Washington was read in the house 
stating the result of their deliberations, the plans and expecta- 
tions of the campaign, and the assistance which must be ren- 
dered by the State. This act of Heron's was clearly treasonable 
and in violation of his oath, but even here he shows that he is 
still on the side of his country, for, it will be observed that in 
the first case, he delays the information until too late to be of 
any service, and in the second case, that he gives to Clinton 
such information only as he knows him to be already in posses- 
sion of, the letters of Washington from the 27th to the 29th 
containing it, having been captured by the enemy. In this way 
he avoids doing harm to the cause of his country and at the 
same time craftily gains credit at Headquarters for great zeal 
in the cause of the King. 

Although at times he hews dangerously close to the line, all 
the circumstances point strongly to the conclusion that Heron 
was an American spy, and that his espionage for the British 
was a mere pretence to aid him in procuring intelligence and 



428 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

to enable him the more effectually to despoil the Philistines. 
Indeed, prominent as he was in the councils of his State, his 
interest and safety would not have permitted him to be other- 
wise than honest and straightforward with his own people, and, 
while it would have been comparatively easy for a man as shrewd 
and plausible as he to have imposed on Clinton, it would have 
been impossible to have deceived for any length of time, his 
neighbors and the high military and civil officers with whom his 
duties and privilege as a member of the Assembly brought him 
into constant contact. 

Sir Henry Clinton was in person short, with a full face and 
prominent nose ; his manners reserved, and, though polite, not 
popular with the world at large. He was regarded by many 
as more conspicuous for honesty, zeal and courage than military 
genius. He was accused of habitual indecision. His percep- 
tions, certainly, were not the keenest, and it does not appear to 
have been difficult to deceive him. When Washington's dis- 
patches of the 27th and 29th of May, 1781, containing 
accounts of the interview and plans agreed on with Rocham- 
beau at Wethersfield on the 23d, were captured, Clinton thought 
them sent out to be intercepted and believed them false ; while 
the letters which Washington sent in August to Greene with false 
statements of liis plans, intending them to fall into the hands 
of the enemy, he believed to be true, and the Army had reached 
Elk River before he comprehended the object of the march. 
Sullivan denominated him the " Prince of Blunderers," and 
Livingston, at the time of the fall of Cornwallis, wrote, " I 
should be very sorry to have Clinton recalled, because, as fertile 
as that country is in the production of blockheads, I think they 
cannot easily send us a greater blunderbuss, unless, peradven- 
ture, it should please his Majesty himself to do us the honor of 
a visit." In the course of his visits to his friend in the office of 
the Adjutant General, Heron seems early to have discovered in 
the gullibility of the British Commander, a fruitful field for the 
exercise of his peculiar talents. Whether the " lusty, fat, ruddy 
young fellow" the Adjutant General is described to be, was any 
sharper than his Chief, we have no knowledge, although he had 
a disagreeable habit of presenting to his spies lists of written 
questions to be categorically answered, but neither he nor Clin- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 429 

ton was a match for Heron, who evidently had set out to work 
both for every dollar there was in them, and in so doing affected 
such zeal and apparently gave such full information that he 
was wholly unsuspected. The knowledge that Clinton had con- 
ceived the idea since the defection of Arnold, that it was possible 
for him to corrupt any American General, appears to have 
suggested to Heron as a profitable speculation, the scheme 
which occupies so much of his last three letters in the " Record," 
of pretending to be negotiating with Parsons " to lend his aid 
in terminating this unhappy war by an amicable reunion with 
the parent State." 

This pretended scheme Heron brings to Clinton's notice dur- 
ing a conversation, presumably with the Adjutant General, 
Major DeLancey, at his office in New York, (a memorandum of 
which is entered in the "Record" under date of March 11, 
1781) by casually mentioning that "General Parsons' Aid-de- 
Camp, whose name is Lawrence, is soliciting leave to come in to 
see his mother (then living on Long Island). He thinks it is 
in our power to tamper with him, and that from Parsons' mer- 
cenary disposition, there is little doubt of success," If Lawrence 
ever said this to Heron respecting General Parsons, he must 
have been and known Heron to have been, in the British interest, 
of which there is no evidence. Aside from the improbability of 
an Aid-de-Camp expressing such an opinion of the General 
upon whom to a great extent his advancement must depend, it is 
certain that the cautious Heron, if he were a British spy and 
desirous of corrupting Parsons, would never confide the fact to 
Parsons' Aid-de-Camp, unless he were a co-conspirator, which 
is not claimed ; and Lawrence, ignorant of the fact, would never 
have presumed to suggest to Heron that he could successfully 
tamper with Parsons, or imagine that he had any object in doing 
so. Furthermore, officers of neither army were in the habit of 
soliciting leave to enter the enemy's lines even to see their 
mothers. It is safe, therefore, to assume that the alleged remark 
was never made by Lawrence, but that the whole was an invention 
of Heron's to further his own purposes. But the bait, arti- 
ficial though it was, Clinton greedily swallowed, and we find that 
late as March, 1782, when Parsons had practically left the 
Army, Heron was able, and doubtless found it to his profit, to 



480 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

keep up the deception. How he justified his scheme, Heron does 
not inform us, but probably on the ground that, like many other 
Connecticut people, he was merely carrying on a private war 
with the enemy. To show the kindly relations existing between 
General Parsons and his Aid-de-Camp, and the utter falsity of 
Heron's statement as to Lawrence, the following letters are 
introduced ; the first asks a favor of Governor Clinton for Law- 
rence, who seems to be well and favorably known to the Gov- 
ernor, and the second and third to Trumbull ask a return of the 
permit for Lawrence and acknowledge its receipt. 

MiDDLETowN, September 7, 1781. 

Dear Sir. — The bearer, Major Lawrence, waits on you upon the 
particular circumstances of his case — his estate in the hands of the 
enemy and he destitute of any meaps of subsisting himself. I need 
say nothing to you of him personally, as you know him and his 
character fully. 

He is offered a quantity of goods from New York on his estate, 
which will, from the interest arising from it, be able to support 
him with decency. This offer he cannot accept without your con- 
sent and permission to bring out the goods. The Council of this 
State, to whom he has applied, informs me that he being a subject 
of your State, your permission ought to be granted, and, on such 
permission, they will give every necessary aid he wants, and that 
they are convinced of the propriety of the grant. 

As the principles on which he applies are such as obviate all the 
material objections to receiving goods from that quarter, and per- 
fectly coincide with the principals on which individuals have had 
liberty to bring out their effects, and public bodies, particularly your 
own State, have supplied necessary clothing for their troops, I can- 
not doubt your granting him the license desired, as no payment is to 
be made till the war ends, supplies of money or provisions seeming 
to be at an end in this case. 

I cannot entertain a doubt of your friendship for him or me, and 
have full confidence in your compliance with his request, and am 
with the greatest friendship and esteem. 

Dear Sir, Your most obed't. servt.. 
To Governor Clinton. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Danbury, October 11, 1781. 
Sir. — Pursuant to your advice. Major Lawrence has prepared 
what articles he can procure, principally woolens and linens, and 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 431 

waits for the permission of Governor Clinton which I left with your 
Excellency at Lebanon to procure the confirmation of the Council, 
since which I have not heard of it. I must beg you to send that 
permission with the doings of the Council, by the bearer, as his 
whole interest now lies at great hazard, and should he not be pos- 
sessed of his permit by the last of this week, it is probable he will be 
ruined. 

The British fleet has not sailed, nor will they be ready to sail 
soon. They appear to be using their greatest exertions to fit for 
sea, but as General Washington opened his batteries against Lt. Gen. 
Cornwallis the 26th idt, 'tis probable the matter will be decided 
before they can relieve them. I am with esteem &c., 

rr r> Tf 1 11 Saml. H. Parsons. 

1 o Governor 1 rumbuU. 

October 15, 1781, Major Lawrence has received the permit of the 
Council and will conform to it. 

The following letter from Heron to the Adjutant General 
of the British Army, taken from the " Record " gives an 
elaborate account of the beginning and progress of his pre- 
tended negotiation with Parsons. On this occasion, Heron 
appears to have sailed from Stamford in his own boat and been 
captured about the 20th by the British brig, " Argo." On the 
23d he was given a passport into the city, and on the 24th, 
wrote this letter. He did not return until after the 27th, 
reaching Redding May 1. 

2ith April, 1781. 

Sir. — The business I had to negotiate with Gen'l P s, after 

my return home, I paid the utmost attention to, and in order to break 
the ice (as says the vulgar adage) I found myself under the neces- 
sity of summoning what little address I was master of, in order to 
secure myself a retreat, should the matter I had to propose prove 

disagreeable to P s. Therefore after giving him a satisfactory 

account of my commercial negotiation (which I knew would be 
alluring to him) I introduced the other branch of my business in the 
following manner. I told him that in justice to the confidence he 
reposed in me, I conceived myself in duty bound to conceal no 
material circumstance from him which may in any respect affect 
him. Impressed with this sense, I begged leave to communicate the 
substance of a conversation I had with a gentleman at New York, 
whom I knew to be in the highest confidence with the commander- 
in-chief. This gentleman, I told him, hearing of my being in town 



432 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

with a flag and knowing I had many friends in it, who, notwith- 
standing our diff"ering in political sentiments, were attached to me, 
he, therefore made use of some of them to acquaint me that he wished 
for an interview for the purpose of conferring on a subject the 
nature of which was in no way inconsistent with strict honor. I ac- 
cordingly waited on him at the appointed hour when a conversation 
of the following import occurred: 

" I understand," said the gentleman, " that you are intimately 

acquainted with G 1 P s." I answered in the afiirmative. 

" Don't you judge him to be a gentleman possessed of too much 
understanding and liberality of sentiment to think that the welfare 
of his country consists in an unnatural alliance with the Enemies to 
the Protestant religion, a perfidious nation, with whom no faith can 
be long kept, as all the nations of Europe have experienced? " I 

answered that I knew G 1 P s to be a gentleman of 

abilities, but could not judge of his feelings toward that nation, 
otherwise than by observing no great cordiality subsisting between 
him and the gentry of that nation in our service. " The terms 
off"ered by the parent state," continued the gentleman, " are so liberal 
and generous, that I wonder at any gentleman of an enlarged and 
liberal mind giving his assistance in prolonging the calamities of 

his Country, and as General P s is well known to possess these 

talents as well as great influence in the army and country, Govern- 
ment would wish to make use of him for the laudable and honorable 
purpose of lending his aid in terminating this unhappy war in an 
amicable Reunion with the parent State; should he undertake it. 
Government will amply reward him, both in a lucrative and hon- 
orary way and manner " " Besides," I super-added, " making a 

provision for his son." Thus, Sir, have I been necessitated to use 
all this circumlocution in order to convince him of the delicacy 
observed in making the above propositions, and that nothing was 
intended inconsistent with the purest priciples of honor. 

During this conversation I observed that he listened with un- 
common attention, and as it grew very late, he said it was a matter 
which required deliberation; he therefore postponed it to another 
opportunity. 

Next morning he sent for me and resumed the subject of our last 
or preceding night's discourse. He said he had weighed the matter 
and found himself, upon the strictest examination, disposed to a 
reconciliation and to eff'ect which he would use his influence and 
lend his aid to promote it, but that he saw the embarrassments in 
his way in regard to inculcating such principles in the army, though 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 433 

he did not doubt but in time he could bring the officers of the Con- 
necticut Line over to his opinion. That in order to effect it he 
thought he could do it more to the purpose by resigning his com- 
mission, which would save every appearance of those honorary ideas, 
inseparable from the military profession; that he would draw after 
him the officers above referred to, who look up to him as a father, 
and that their joint influence would be exerted among the citizens, 
which would turn the tables in favor of Government in our State, 
but in consideration of those services, he must have a reasonable and 
meet compensation for his commission, it being all he had to depend 
upon. 

Thus, Sir, have I given you a faithful account of this business 
and shall wait on you for your further direction at any hour you may 
please to appoint, when I may have the honor of relating other cir- 
cumstances relative to it, which would be rather tedious to commit 

to writing. ... x o 

1 am &c., 

To Major DeLancey. W. H. 

I have no hesitation in pronouncing this negotiation with 
Parsons wholly fictitious — an invention of Heron's without any 
basis of fact — a deception put upon Clinton for the purpose of 
obtaining money under the pretence of its being needed to 
influence Parsons. The facts, I am confident, will bear me out. 
Heron does not state when this conversation with Parsons 
occurred, only that it was after his return home, which must 
have been subsequent to March 11, at which time he was in 
New York, and before April 21, the date of his next appear- 
ance there. How long after May 11 he remained in New 
York does not appear, but it is safe to assume that he did not 
reach Redding until after the 15th. On his April visit to New 
York his boat was captured on the 20th; he must, therefore, in 
order to have had sufllicient time to prepare his commercial ven- 
ture and cross the Sound, have left Redding as early at least as 
the 15th. The time within which the conversation might 
have taken place is thus narrowed down to the period between 
March 15 and April 15. Except the ten days he was 
engaged in his expedition against the " Outlaws of the Bronx," 
Parsons was in camp in the Highlands, fifty miles from Red- 
ding, from December until the 28th of February, when he left 
Camp under orders from Washington to investigate the Tory 



484 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

plots in Fairfield County. This kept him busily employed and 
on the move until March 14, when he made his report, in which 
he suggests that his Aid-de-Camp, Captain Walker, be left to 
prosecute inquiries while he returns to Camp. Worn out with 
his exertions. General Parsons, almost immediately after this 
was taken seriously ill with a malarial fever. March 23, he 
writes to Washington, " that being seized with a fever a few 
days ago, I am at present unable to stir abroad." ]\Iarch SO, 
Captain Walker writes to Washington in his own name, " I am 
sorry to inform you that Major General Parsons is so reduced 
by his illness and at times so far deprived of his reason, as 
makes it impossible for him to transact the business which your 
Excellency expected. In the first of his illness he referred the 
whole business to me in hopes at that time of being able to 
attend himself in a few days, but I fear he will not this several 
weeks." April 4, Major Wyllys writes that " General Par- 
sons lies on a sick bed at Redding, we fear dangcroush^ ill, 
which is unfortunate for us. He may not be here for a month." 
On the 20th, Parsons writes to Washington giving an account 
of his sickness ; and on the 30th, " The fever has left me exceed- 
ingly weak and unable to attend to any business of importance." 
Since the alleged conversation, detailed in this letter, nmst have 
taken place, if ever, some time between the middle of March and 
the middle of April, during which time Parsons was seriously 
ill and at intervals delirious, what probability is there that it 
took place at all.'' If Parsons ever said the things attributed to 
him by Heron in his letter of April 24, it must have been 
during his delirium, for he was never known to utter or enter- 
tain any such sentiments when he was himself. Instead of con- 
sidering how he could best serve Great Britain, he was creating 
the wildest excitement among the Tories by his investigations, 
as is shown by the examination of Andrew Bennett on March 
10; and Elisha Rexford writes from New Haven on the 9th 
of April, " that the Tories dread to have examinations of 
individuals, especially by General Parsons or a Court ]\lartial. 
Whig people our way highly approve of what General Parsons 
has done, and say this is the way to manage the disaffected, to 
frustrate their schemes and save the country." 

Heron's letter contains within itself evidence of being a fabri- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 435 

cation. It was obviously written to impress Clinton and not 
to tell him the truth. He says that he introduced his business 
by giving Parsons an account of his commercial negotiation 
(which he knew would be alluring to him). As Heron went to 
New York in his own boat, this " commercial negotiation," if 
such there was, could have been nothing but illicit trading, and 
Parsons, who had for years been trying to break up the prac- 
tice, was the last person in the world he would have wished to 
know it. Moreover, this statement is in effect flatly contra- 
dicted by Parsons in his letter recommending Heron as a spy, 
for had Heron ever told him that he was engaged in illicit trad- 
ing, he never would have written thus positively to Washington : 

Heron's enemies suggest that he carries on an illicit trade with 
the enemy, but I have lived two years next door to him and am 
fully convinced he has never had a single article of any kind for 
sale during that time, nor do I believe he was in the most distant 
manner connected with commerce at that time or any subsequent 
period. I know many persons of more exalted character are also 
accused, none more than Governor Trumbull, nor with less reason. 
I believe the Governor and Mr. Heron as clear of this business as 
I am, and I know myself to be totally free from everything which 
has the least connection with that commerce. 

The conversation between Heron and a gentleman in New 
York, detailed in the letter of April S^l, may have occurred, 
for it was exactly what the mention of the alleged remark of 
Lawrence was intended to bring about ; but when Heron repre- 
sents Parsons as saying " that he found himself, upon the 
strictest examination, disposed to a reconciliation, to eff'ect 
which he would use his influence and lend his aid," he represents 
what might possibly have been believed by Clinton, but what 
would have been ridiculed by Parsons' friends, who knew that 
of all the leaders of the Revolution no one was more hostile 
to reconciliation than he, or more determined that the contest 
should not end until Independence should be acknowledged by 
Great Britain ; and when he further makes him say " that he 
would draw after him the officers of the Connecticut Line who 
look up to him as a father, and that their joint influence would 
be exerted among the citizens, which would turn the tables in 



436 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

favor of Government in our State," he suggests something so 
absurd and quixotic that it is incredible that the British Com- 
mander, even at Livingston's and SulHvan's estimate, could 
have read it without a consciousness of being imposed upon. 
And then, in his usual indirect manner. Heron introduces the 
subject of money : " but in consideration of these services he 
must have a reasonable and meet compensation for his commis- 
sion, it being all he had to depend upon," which Heron knew 
to be false, but it would furnish a reason for larger demands. 
The audacity and monumental assurance of Heron in putting 
this trick upon Clinton, is paralleled only by the credulity of 
those who have given credence to his lies. 

The practical mind of the Adjutant General seems not to 
have been satisfied with mere talk, for we find under date of next 
day a memorandum of the following conversation between 
Major DeLancey and Heron: — 

25 April, 1781. 

Memorandum taken of a conversation with Hiram [Heron]. 

He promises to get from General Pa s the following infor- 
mation: — The exact state of West Point. What troops. What 
magazines. What new Works and how many guns. Who commands. 
If there is a boom below Fort Clinton. He is to let me know what 

P s' wish is, how he can serve him and the methods he means 

to point out himself. He is to tell him he can no way serve us so 
well as continuing in the army; that the higher his command, the 
more material service he can render. He is to promise him great 
rewards for any services he may do us. He is to hold up the idea of 
Monk to him, and that we expect from his services an end to the war. 
That during the time he continues in their army he shall have a 
handsome support, and should he be obliged to fly, to remind him 
of the example and situation of Arnold. I am to hear from him 
on Friday next, when he will let me know how far he has operated 

on Pa s. I shall tell him further what steps to take. He is 

to go to Hartford and attend the Assembly, from whence he will 
collect minutes, and in the month of June will transmit them to the 

General. He makes no doubt of bringing Par s to do what we 

wish. 

Heron's deception seems to have been successful, but in view 
of what he states as to his progress with Parsons, he seems to 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 437 

have taken a pretty large contract, and nowhere does he claim 
that he has been able to fulfil it. 

After the capture of his boat by the " Argo " on the 20th, 
Heron was not released until he had communicated with Head- 
quarters. Three letters passed between Lieut. Colonel 
DeWurmb of the Yagers and Major Kissam, in reference to 
his detention and release, which the Editor of the " Record " 
introduces at the close of his annotation of the Heron letters as 
corroborative evidence of the charge he makes against Parsons. 
None of them refer to Parsons, except the following, dated, 

Westbury, April 23, 1781. 
Sir. — I enclose a passport for Mr. Heron and should wish for his 
return to Stamford whenever the wind will permit of it. I have not 
yet received any answer from New York, but as soon as those things 
wanted by General Parsons shall arrive, I will not fail to forward 
them by another flag. 

I have the honor to be with great regard, Sir, Yours &c., 

L. J. A. DeWurmb, Lt. Col. 

What is meant by the " things wanted by General Parsons," 
must be left to conjecture. He ma}^ have sent for medicines or 
clothing for the use of prisoners, but the probable explanation 
is, that an unauthorized use was made of Parsons' name to 
obtain " those things " which Heron wanted. At any rate, the 
things must have been wanted for a legitimate purpose, for 
there was no concealment about the transaction and evidently 
neither DeWurmb nor Kissam regarded it as anything unusual 
or suspicious, as certainl}^ would have been the case had the 
" things " been ordered for private use ; for, it must be remem- 
bered, these officers were entirely ignorant of the alleged nego- 
tiation with Parsons and could not have known of any Avish to 
grant him unusual favors. 

How the reference in this letter of the 23d to " those things 
wanted by General Parsons," about which nothing further is 
said or known, can corroborate the charge of an offense based 
wholly upon Heron's letters, an offense which Heron in his com- 
munications of the S-Ath and 25th does not pretend has yet been 
committed, I fail to see ; but I can understand hoAv this cor- 
respondence might be made to appear to the unobservant or 



438 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

indifferent reader corroborative proof, by introducing it only 
at the end of the annotations, so that it would seem to relate to 
matters subsequent and not prior to Heron's letters. I can also 
understand, how, by following up the Kissam letters with 
garbled extracts from Trumbull's letters to Washington of the 
9th and 17th of July, 1781, the report which Parsons made to 
Washington of the alarming disaffection in the Connecticut 
Line, could be made to appear an additional evidence of dis- 
loyalty, when the complete correspondence passing between 
Washington, Parsons and Trumbull on the subject of the 
report, (see Chap. XXII) shows that Parsons, strongly sup- 
ported by Washington, was patriotically and successfully urg- 
ing his State to grant that justice to his troops, the inexcus- 
able delay in which was threatening the very existence of the 
Line. Thimble-rigging with facts is never resorted to, to sup- 
port a strong case. 

Heron on his return to Redding, May 1, brought to Par- 
sons the very important intelligence obtained in New York, 
which he communicated to Washington in his letter of May 2. 
On the 17th of June, Heron was again in New York, where he 
writes the following letter to the Adjutant General, Major 
DeLancey : — 

New York, Sunday, June 17, 1781. 

Sir. — Being somewhat recovered from the fatiguing riding last 
night till 12 o'clock, I sit down to give you the heads only, (to avoid 
prolixity) of such matters as have fallen within my observation since 
I had the pleasure of seeing you last. Soon after my return home, 
I prepared dispatches for you and left them at the appointed place, 
and I find they are taken away, but whether by Bulkley, or any other 
person, I know not. They contained amongst other matters an 
account of the intended route of the French troops, the place of their 
destination and the ground on which they were to encamp. Like- 
wise an account of the State of West Point and its dependencies. 

This early notice I had from G 1 P s, who had it from 

the French Officers who had been viewing the place of encamp- 
ment. 

The "state of West Point " is one of the items of informa- 
tion which Heron, on his last visit to New York, promised to 
get from General Parsons, but he does not say that the infor- 
mation contained in the " dispatches " was obtained from him, 



I 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 439 

or any other information except that regarding the route, 
destination and camping place of the French. Indeed, by par- 
ticularizing one item as that furnished by Parsons, Heron, by 
implication, states that the other items came from another 
source; and I here call attention to the fact that in none of his 
letters or conversations does Heron claim that he has had from 
Parsons any of the intelligence he communicates, excepting this 
unimportant item as to the French troops. As Heron did not 
obtain the promised information from Parsons, and the alleged 
dispatches were never received at Headquarters, it is safe to 
assume that they were never prepared, and that the claim that 
they were was made merely to gain time. Heron in this letter 
also gives information as to what occurred in the Connecticut 
Legislature a month previous, and the substance of Washing- 
ton's Circular written May 10 and read the 24<th. He has an 
estimate of the expenses of the current year, but has not dared 
to bring it with him (and never intended to). The French, he 
says, are on their march, a thing everybody knew. Of General 
Parsons he further says : — 

G 1 P s assisted me in coming here now. We concerted 

measures for our future conduct with regard to conveying such intel- 
ligence as may come to his knowledge. I find him disposed to go 
some lengths (as the phrase is) to serve you, and even going thus far 
is gaining a great deal. But I, who am ever jealous of intriguing 
persons, especially in this cause, fearing the measures calculated to 
promote the interest of Government may be frustrated or thwarted 
by them, and myself made an instrument of fraud in a cause, for the 
support of which I have hazarded everything, have, therefore, exerted 
all the perspicacity I am master of, to analize (so in the MS.) the 
gentleman in question, and find he will not at present explicitly say 
that he will go such lengths as I could wish. I know the scruples he 
has to struggle with, those of education, family connections and mili- 
tary ideas of honor. But interest, together with the prejudices now 
subsisting between the Army and the State, rather than principle, 
may overcome these. Thus have I dealt with you with faithfulness 
and sincerity (as I think it my duty) and leave the improvement of 
the foregoing hints to your own superior judgement. 

Meantime I remain. Sir 
Yr. most obt. & very hbl. servt., 

W. H. 



440 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Heron does not write so hopefully of Parsons in this as in his 
previous letter, and apparently thinks that he has gone too 
fast. The Adjutant General noticing this, on the 20th, in con- 
sequence of a conversation with Heron the night before, puts 
to him in writing the following very pointed question : " Is 

it your opinion that Gen'l. P s will enter so heartily as 

to make us hope he will take an open, determined step in our 
favor ? " In reply to this Heron writes : — 

It is my opinion that he does not wish to take an open and 
avowed part at present^ however determined he may appear to be 
(and is really so) to communicate any material intelligence in his 
power, to inculcate principles of reconciliation, and detaching his 
subordinate officers from French connection. I have no authority to 
say that he will give up any Post or men committed to his care. This 
in my opinion must depend upon future contingencies and the adverse 
turn their affairs are like to take; for, were he sure that Independ- 
ence would take place, his prospects as a general officer would be so 
great from the country, that they would outweigh every other con- 
sideration. ... I have on a former occasion described the man 
to you, his local attachments, his scruples, his prejudices, and talents 
at intrigue; and, as he has already embarked half way, your own 
acquaintance with the human heart will enable you to judge whether 
it is not probable that in time he will go through the several grada- 
tions you would wish and expect of him. To effect this something 
generous ought to be given in hand, but (in my opinion) not as much 
as I know he would ask. His expectations may be raised. It is for 
you to judge how much you would be willing to give at present as 
and adequate reward for what I have given you reason to expect ; and 
I find myself disposed to fall short rather than raise your expecta- 
tions, as I think it the more pardonable error of the two. Whatever 
you are willing to give, shall be my business to safe convey. 

This is such a bald attempt to obtain money under false pre- 
tences, that it would seem impossible for anyone but an 
extremely innocent person to dream of taking Heron seriously- 
The prudence of Heron's reply, " I have no authority to say 
that Parsons will give up any Post or men committed to his 
care," is very noteworthy for had he committed himself hy 
naming any Post or men, he would have furnished the Adjutant 
with a test of his sincerity which would have speedily ended his 
career as a British spy. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 441 

To determine the efficiency of Heron's bureau of information, 
the Adjutant General gives him twelve general heads of " what 
we could wish our friend should inform us of." 

1. The state of the American Army. 
9.. The state of the French Army. 

3. How each Army is situated. 

4. What enterprise they mean to undertake, and the method of 
counteracting them. 

5. What supplies and from whence they expect to subsist. 

6. Where the magazines are, and how to be destroyed. 

7. The movement of the French fleet and their intentions. 

8. News from the Southward of consequence. 

9. The situation of the different forts. 

10. News from Europe. 

11. The hopes of the ensuing campaign. 

12. As much of the correspondence between General Washington 
and the Congress as possible. 

The above are general heads. His own knowledge will point out 
any further information that may be of use, and I hope his zeal will 
make these communications frequent. 

To which Heron replies : — 

The several heads from the first to the twelfth inclusive shall be 
attended to; but as I may not retain them, and it not being safe to 
carry such minutes out with me now, it will be best to send them out 
to Bulkley and order him to leave them at the usual place, (a hole in 
the rocks or stone fences). They ought to be in cypher. I shall 
look for them back about the 28th inst. and shall collect such intelli- 
gence (to convey back by the same hand) as I find are deserving of 
notice. The necessity of our friend's giving me frequent and par- 
ticular information of every occurrence in order to transmit them 
here shall be urged. Nothing shall be wanting on my part that may 
tend to beget in him a firm and perfect reliance on those offers you 
are pleased to authorize me to make. The ascendency I have over 
him, the influence I have with him, the confidence he has already 
reposed in me, the alluring prospect of pecuniary, as well as hon- 
orary rewards, together with the plaudits of a grateful nation, shall 
all be combined together and placed in a conspicuous point of view, 
to engage him heartily in the cause. I know of no better method to 
try his sincerity than for him to select out of the foregoing heads, 



442 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

from the first to the twelfth inclusive, such as he can give proper and 
precise answers to, and intrust me with the care of communicating 
them. In this service it would not be amiss for me to be able to tell 
what he may expect at present. I urge this to prevent his making an 
unreasonable and extravagant demand. 

The clerk who entered this letter in the " Record," under- 
scored the word " grateful," evidently amused at the kind of 
gratitude a compliance with Heron's wishes was likely to inspire 
and the kind of plaudits Parsons was likely to receive. The 
Adjutant General, evidently not entirely satisfied with Heron's 
assurances and desirous of putting him to a further test, 
adds : — 

As it is necessary I should report to the Commander-in-Chief, 
he will think the business in no great forwardness unless I could give 
him some marks of the sincerity of our friend's intentions. To you 
I leave the method of procuring it. 

Heron is now in a predicament. He must without delay get 
something from Parsons to show Clinton, or his deception will 
be exposed. As usual, he proves equal to the emergency. He 
writes privately to Parsons, or pretends to have done so, and 
uses his reply, or what he pretends is his reply, to prove the 
sincerity of Parsons' intentions. It is not known that there 
ever was any special intimacy between Parsons and Heron or 
any considerable correspondence. This reply, if genuine, is 
the only letter known to be in existence which purports to have 
been written by Parsons to Heron ; and only two letters have 
come to light written by Heron to Parsons ; one found among the 
Trumbull papers, dated January 5, 1781, in which Heron writes 
to Parsons, then with the Army in the Highlands, " that one, 
McNeil had written him from New York that he had almost 
closed the settlement of the late Mr. Thompson's estate and was 
ready to pay him a sum due in compliance with a charge of 
Thompson on his death bed. He urges his need of money and 
wants a flag of truce to get to New York." Whether this was 
an honest request or not, is not known, but he does not appear 
to have been successful, for in his letter of February 4 to 
Major DeLancey, he says, "I find myself disappointed in the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 443 

hopes and expectations I entertained, when I wrote you last, of 
seeing you ore now in New York. I cannot obtain a flag of 
truce." This must refer to his attempt of January 5, for he 
further says, " I have made a journey to Hartford and one to 
Camp," which he could not well have done and also gone to New 
York after January 5. The journey to Camp was made, 
probably, for the purpose of securing a flag. The second letter, 
which is such as might pass between any two public men and 
relates merely to the resolutions of the Assembly respecting the 
Army and the difficulties encountered in the election of delegates 
to Congress, is as follows : — 

Redding, November 7, 1779. 

Sir. — I should have done myself the pleasure of transmitting you 
a copy of the resolve of the Assembly respecting the Army's being 
made good, but judging the copy I transcribed for Colo. Swift has 
reached you ere now, as that gentleman left Hartford before I did. 

The Assembly's committee appointed to adjust those matters, are 
to meet the officers of the Army at Durham (I think) sometime in 
December next. All private donations, gratuities or moneys advanced 
with a view to encourage men to enlist, are not to be accounted any 
part of the men's wages; but such sums as have been advanced by 
public communities on the principle of making their wages good. 

The delegates who represented this State in Congress the year 
past, have their powers of representation continued to them till the 
first of March next; this is owing to our making no choice or not elect- 
ing a proper number in which both houses could agree. Much time 
has been spent in debating, conferring, considering and reconsidering 
this business of electing new delegates, but unhappily a concurrence 
could not be had, so that they (both houses) found themselves under 
an absolute necessity of continuing the old ones for a limited time 
as above hinted, hoping, doubtless, that by the next adjourned ses- 
sion (which is on the first Thursday in Jan'y. next), they will get 
into better humor. The lower House, in the first place, made choice 
of seven delegates whose names I shall not trouble you with, as you 
undoubtedly have their names already. The upper House concurred, 
with an alteration in the arrangement or order in which their names 
stood, placing the old delegates, or those who were in Congress here- 
tofore, first in the Roll, notwithstanding their being lowest in the 
nomination ; this being a matter of precedency or rather punctilio 
which that Hon'ble House thought proper to attend to. On the other 
hand, the lower House deemed it an infringement on the rights of 



444 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the body of the Freeman^ therefore they could not concur with the 
upper House in the alteration made in the arrangement. Thus mat- 
ters stood from day to day until the lower House finally came into 
the arrangement. 

But a new difficulty now arises from Mr. Hosmer and Mr. Law 
declining to serve, their places being filled up by the Upper House 
in the persons of Colo. Dyer and Mr. Sherman, and sent into the 
other House for a concurrence about seven o'clock last Friday night 
at a time when most of the members were gone; this occasioned their 
finding themselves under a necessity of continuing the old ones as I 
have already mentioned. Many people who are best acquainted with 
the connection of certain personages make no scruple in saying that 
a great deal of chicanery and intrigue has been used in this business. 
A bill passed both Houses empowering any two of our delegates in 
Congress to meet in a general convention of delegates from all the 
States, the Carolinas and Georgia excepted, at Philadelphia next 
month in order to agree on a limitation of prices of goods, produce 
&c. How the gentlemen will like to descend from their Congres- 
sional character to a Conventional one, I know not. Thus have I 
thrown the foregoing hints together for your present information 
which you'll doubtless have more correct ere long. 

I am. Sir, with great esteem 

Your most Obedt. Servt., 

Wm. Heron. 
To the Hon'ble Brigadier Genl. Parsons, at Peekskill. 

Heron's letter to Major DeLancey in which he enclosed the 
alleged Parsons letter, is dated July 15, 1781, and written in 
New York whither he had come, as he sa\'s, " under the sanction 
of a commission from Governor Trumbull to cruise in the 
Sound." Apparently answering a complaint from DeLancey 
that he had failed to send the information promised on his last 
visit, he writes : — 

It is not my fault that you have not heard from me before now. 
I left two packets at the place appointed for Bulkley to take them; 
one of the 28th ult., the other of the 4th. inst. When I came to the 
place a second time I was surprised to find the first packet there ; but 
more so now when I found both there unmoved. 

Heron seems to understand the convincing character of a lie 
with the circumstances, and does not hesitate to use it in excus- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 445 

ing his failure to DeLancey. The hole in the wall, into which 
these packets were to be put, was plainly not too small for 
Heron to crawl out of. 

" Soon after my return from New York," he continues, " I had an 
interview with our friend, and after acquainting him of the nature 
of these services expected from him, (at least so far as I could recol- 
lect the heads of the Queries you last showed me), we concerted 
measures for his conveying to me every material article of intelli- 
gence. The enclosed is the first essay of the kind, which serves to 
show the manner and the style in which he is to write — as to a con- 
fidential friend anxious to know those matters and occurrences which 
in anywise affect the cause of our country." 

If this " interview " ever occurred, Avhich seems far from prob- 
able, it must have been between the 20th of June, at which time 
Heron was still in New York, and the 8th of July, the date of 
the alleged Parsons letter. Heron says it was soon after his 
return home (not on his way home), so that he must have 
returned to Redding before seeing Parsons. On the 28th of 
June and again on the •Ith of July, Heron claims that he left 
dispatches at the hiding place, which was near the Sound, sixty 
or seventy miles from Peekskill, where Parsons was busily 
engaged at the time in preparing for the movement of the 2d. 
From the night of the 1st to that of the 5th of July, the 
Army was on its march to New York and in the presence of the 
enemy, so that from the 28th of June to the 5th of July, an 
interview with Parsons would have been very difficult if not 
impracticable; and none appears to have taken place after the 
5th, for the pretended letter, as itself states, was sent by a mes- 
senger. This interview, therefore, if had at all, must have been 
had previous to the 28th. Heron nowhere mentions the time he 
left New York, but it must have been after the 20th, and he may 
have left so late, that his visit to the hiding place on the 28th, 
was made on his way home. If so, he could not have seen Par- 
sons at all. Had he left New York on the 21st, which was the 
earliest day he could have done so, he would scarcely have 
reached home before the 22d or 23d, and would have had but 
four or five days in which to ride to camp and back, nearly ninety 
miles, a journey he does not claim to have made and which in 



446 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the extreme heat he was not likely to have attempted ; and had 
he made it, he must have arrived amid the hurry and confusion 
of preparations to march — a most inopportune time to plot 
treason, as he would be well aware. In view of these facts, it is 
difficult to resist the conclusion, that the interview in question 
is a myth, and the alleged arrangement for conveying intelH- 
gence a figment of Heron's imagination. It was a shrewd move 
on the part of Heron to send a messenger to Dobb's Ferry, for 
thereby he obtained a written reply to his anxious queries regard- 
ing the safety of the magazines and the situation of the Army, 
which he could palm off on DeLancey, when he would have got 
nothing but verbal answers had he seen Parsons in person. 
Heron continuing, says : — 

One thing he said in the course of our conversation which con- 
vinces me that I am not deceived by him; that is, when he talked 
about his son he said, were he brought into New York, he wished 
that some provision may be made for him in the British Navy to 
serve in Europe during the present contest. This is a fact which 
will enable you to judge of him for yourself. 

Heron in this makes a slip. He forgets that grave suspicion 
would fall on Parsons were his son to enter the British Navy, and 
his assertion that Parsons wished it might lead DeLancey to 
doubt his word. The editor of the " Record," having evidently 
little knowledge of Parsons' family, thinks the son referred to 
in tliis letter is Enoch, the future banker and financier, then a 
child between eleven and twelve years of age ; but, instead, it is, 
William Walter, his eldest son, known as " Billy, the Midship- 
man," then in the American Navy, whose escape from the British 
at St. Eustatia, Parsons had just learned (June 15th), the letter 
announcing which furnishes an instructive commentary on the 
truth of Heron's statement. Billy had been captured and held 
a prisoner in the British fleet, where he had been treated with 
great inhumanity, having been loaded with irons for seventy-two 
days ; and his intention was, now that he had escaped, " to get on 
board some armed vessel that he might have it in his power to 
retaliate for lost property and abusive treatment." Billy, who 
was now just nineteen, does not seem to have been blest with a 
very forgiving disposition, for his first move after escaping 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 447 

from New York in 1780, was to obtain, through his father, con- 
trol of boats and men to enable him to capture and punish the 
Tories on Long Island who had been instrumental in having him 
imprisoned. Heron knew all this, and a broad smile must have 
lurked behind his "unmeaning countenance," at the joke he was 
perpetrating on Headquarters in suggesting that Billy should 
have a place in the British Navy. 

" I expected/' continued Heron, " to have been able to furnish 
him e'er this time with the paper you showed me last, containing the 
several heads of those matters to which you wished to have clear and 
explicit answers. He readily agreed to pay the strictest attention to 
them. He will expect some money by me this time, but how to get 
it here, (in New York), I know not, as I would not wish to have any 
person besides yourself, or those you confide in, made acquainted 
with anything of that nature. The bearer will acquaint you where 
I am concealed, but it is not a proper place for me to see anybody; 
not that I have anything to fear from the family, but from the 
neighbors." 

Failure to receive the paper and imperfect recollection of the 
contents, are the ingenious excuses by which Heron seeks to fore- 
stall the objection that the letter which he presents, as showing 
the manner in which intelligence is to be conveyed, does not 
appear to have been written with the slightest reference to De- 
Lancey's Queries. Attention is again called to the necessity 
for money, but why Heron found it necessary to conceal himself, 
he has left an unexplained mystery. 

Heron further says: — 

I was at Knapp's seasonable enough to acquaint you of the move- 
ment of troops to Kingsbridge, and of the French troops changing 
or shifting their first intended route for that purpose; but Mr. 
Knapp had not returned home then. 

Heron has always a ready-made excuse, but as the movement 
of July 2 was very suddenly and secretly ordered, and was 
begun and ended within thirty-six hours, and no orders were 
received by the operating columns until July 1 , it is very 
unlikely that Heron could have learned of, or acquainted Clin- 
ton with it until after its occurrence. Heron also stated that the 
number of the French was betw£en four and five thousand, that 



448 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the New York and New Jersey Lines had joined the Army and 
that West Point was garrisoned by mihtia, but he does not pre- 
tend that he got any of this information from Parsons. It is 
important to observe, in judging of Heron, that the " material 
articles of intelligence," promised by him, seem never to be forth- 
coming. Heron ends his letter with 

Should any money be sent to our friend, it will be best to put it 
up in something like a belt. I am &c., 

W. H. 
P. S. — I thought it advisable to cut the name off the enclosed. 

The letter which Heron enclosed to the British Commander 
as Parsons' contribution, and on which especially the Editor of 
the " Record " founds his charge of treasonable correspond- 
ence, is as follows : — 

Camp Phillipsburgh, 8th July, 1781. 

Dr Sir. — We have now taken a camp within about twelve miles of 
Kingsbridge where I expect we shall continue until we know whether 
the States will in any considerable degree comply with the requisi- 
tions made of them, although we believe ourselves able to maintain 
our ground. You may easily conjecture what our future prospects 
are when I assure you the five regiments of our State are more than 
1200 men deficient of their complement; and the other States (except 
Rhode Island and New York who are fuller) nearly in the same 
condition. 

The right of the front line is commanded by me, consisting of 
Connecticut and Rhode Island troops ; the left by General Lincoln, 
consisting of the brigades of Massachusetts. The second line, one 
brigade of Massachusetts and New Hamphire, commanded by Gen- 
eral Howe. General McDougall commands at West Point. When 
the York forces join, he will be relieved, which I expect will be very 
soon, when I suppose he will take the right of the first line, and I 
shall be in the center ; but this is yet uncertain. 

Our magazines are few in number as well as very small; your 
fears for them are groundless. They are principally at West Point, 
Fishkill, Wapping's Creek and Newburgh, which puts them out of 
the enemy's power, except they attempt their destruction by a force 
sufficient to secure the Highlands (which at present they cannot do) 
our guards at the magazines being sufficient to secure them from small 
parties. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 449 

As the object of the campaign is the reduction of New York, we 
shall now effectually try the patriotism of our countrymen, who have 
always given us assurances of assistance when this should become 
the object; of this I have had my doubts for several years, and wished 
it put to the test. 

The minister of France is in camp and the French troops yester- 
day encamped on our left near the Tuckahoe road. Their number I 
have not had opportunity to ascertain. 

The other matters of information you wish I shall be able to give 
you in a few days. The messenger waits. 

I am Dr. Sir 

Yr. obdt. Servant 

The signature, Heron says, he " thought it advisable to 
cut off." 

This letter — the only letter Heron claims ever to have received 
from Parsons, — is obviously in reply to one from Heron in 
which he asks, among other questions, as to the location of our 
magazines, for the safety of which he artfully expresses fears, 
and as to the strength of the French, with the evident intent of 
drawing statements from Parsons which he can put oflP on De- 
Lancey as answers to his queries, for his own letter, which 
reports the number of the French, shows that he does not ask for 
the sake of information. His success, however, was not great, 
for Parsons tells him that the magazines are out of the enemy's 
reach and that he has not had opportunity to ascertain the num- 
ber of the French troops. 

This letter on its face is a private letter and such ^^ ^^^J 
officer might have written to a friend in the Assembly, and there 
is no evidence that it is anything else than a private letter written 
for an innocent purpose, except Heron's statement that it was 
intended to conve}' intelligence to the enemy. If adaptation to 
an end is any evidence of design, then Heron's statement is un- 
true, for while Parsons might have written of the strength of 
the two annies, the state of their supplies, the disaffection of the 
Connecticut Line and of the important movement against New 
York ordered for the 14th, and many other things very useful 
for Clinton to know, and would have undoubtedly done so had 
his intention been to convey intelligence, the fact is that he did 
not, but wrote only of matters well known to both armies. That 



450 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the allies had attacked on the 3d, and were now encamped above 
Kingsbridge; that the Continentals were not recruited up to 
their full strength ; that our magazines were few in number but 
out of the enemy's reach ; that Parsons commanded the right of 
the line where the enemy's spies had reported seeing him with 
Washington on the 4th, and that New York was the object of 
the campaign, might have been news to the country member up 
in Redding to whom Parsons was writing, but to Clinton it 
was as valuable as would have been the information that the 
Dutch had taken Holland. If Parsons had been attempting to 
answer DeLancey's queries, we should expect to find them 
answered seriatim, of which the " Record " contains several 
examples, but he does not refer to or apparently have any knowl- 
edge of any questions except those asked by Heron in his letter. 
The peg manifestly does not fit the hole for which Heron says 
it was made, but it was the best he could get, and to extricate 
himself from his dilemma he offers it, such as it is, as the first of 
the series of " confidential friend " letters through which Parsons 
is to furnish " every material article of intelligence." The won- 
der is that Clinton should have been so dull and credulous as 
not to have detected the imposition. 

If any doubt remains as to this being a private letter, fraudu- 
lently used by Heron, it should be removed by the following 
letter written by Parsons July 12, four days aftei the date of 
the " confidential friend " letter, when it is not unreasonable to 
suppose that his feelings and sentiments remained the same as on 
the 8th. This letter was written to Thomas Mumford, of 
Groton, Connecticut, a very intimate and confidential friend of 
Parsons, whose house was burned in September during Arnold's 
raid on New London. The original of this letter, which has 
never been published, I now have before me, together with the 
originals of ten other letters to Mumford, all in Parsons' own 
handwriting and abounding in patriotic sentiments. Mumford 
had been for years a member of the Assembly, was an earnest 
patriot, a man of large wealth and one of those who united with 
Parsons is raising the money to set on foot the expedition which 
surprised and captured Ticonderoga. In this letter, which is 
unquestionably private and confidential, Parsons doubtless 
expresses his real sentiments and feelings. It is very similar in 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 451 

tone, sentiments and even expressions to the one written to 
Heron, and much nearer an answer to DeLancey's Queries. He 
commences his letter to Heron with, "We have now taken a 
camp within about twelve miles of Kingsbridge, where I expect 
we shall continue until we know whether the States will in any 
considerable degree comply with the requisitions made of them." 
He writes to Mumford, " The next day we possessed this camp 
where I expect we shall remain until we know what the States 
will do towards enabling us to pursue the intended operations of 
this campaign." He is unreserved and unconstrained in writing 
to his friend Mumford, and speaks freely of matters which 
would have been highly interesting to Clinton, but in what he 
says to Heron, who is not his intimate and whom he knows as a 
spy, he is cautious and guarded, writes briefly and as if merely 
replying to requests for legitimate information. We see by 
this letter, that instead of " no great cordiality subsisting 
between him and the gentry of that Nation," he appears to have 
been very friendly with the French and not at all horrified by the 
" unnatural alliance with the enemies to the Protestant religion, 
a perfidious nation with whom no faith can long be kept," which 
the " gentleman " in New York thought him " possessed of too 
much understanding and liberality of sentiment" to believe 
" consistent with the welfare of his country." A careful read- 
ing and comparison of these two letters, written so nearly at the 
same time and so very similar in character, will, I think, con- 
vince every fair-minded person that the letter to Heron was a 
private letter and nothing more, and written without a suspicion 
of the treacherous use to which it was to be put. The sugges- 
tion that Parsons wrote the letter by connivance with Heron to 
help out his deception, is so violently opposed to Parsons' high 
ideas of honor, that it is not worthy of a moment's consideration, 
to say nothing of the improbability of a man of his caution and 
experience committing an act so imprudent and so dangerous to 
his reputation. Nor is any credit to be given the suggestion 
that the letter was written as a deco}^ to confirm Clinton in his 
belief that the reduction of New York was the real object of the 
campaign, for it was not until the middle of August that the 
movement to the Peninsula was decided on. The following is 
the letter to Thomas Mumford: — 



452 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Camp near Dobb's Ferry, 12th July, 1781. 

Dear Sir. — I owe to your friendship every intelligence I can give 
you, and to your patriotism and station in Government an account of 
your army in every situation and circumstance, however disagreeable 
this account may be at some times. On the 2nd inst. we marched 
from Peekskill with the American Army (consisting of about 3000 
men) and at five o'clock in the morning of the 3rd gained the Heights 
near King's Bridge, where the Jagers and Refugees attacked our 
advance from walls, rocks and covers at a distance and without any 
order or regularity, by which we lost near twenty men killed and 
about fifty wounded, but the enemy had too much prudence to venture 
out in force, although we continued all day in the state of defiance, 
by which we thoroughly reconnoitered their works, and formed our 
opinion of their strength, which was a principal design of our march. 
At night we retired to Valentine's Hill, four miles from the Bridge, 
and the next day possessed this camp, where I expect we shall remain 
until we know what the States will do towards enabling us to pursue 
the intended operations of the campaign. We are erecting works 
at Dobb's Ferry to preserve the communication there which will em- 
ploy us about a fortnight, by which time the States ought to be ready 
with their men to prevent our wasting the campaign in fruitless at- 
tempts against the enemy's capital post in America. Our news from 
General Greene and from Virginia is important and favorable, but 
we have no official accounts ; Ninety Six and Augusta are said to have 
fallen with 500 prisoners in the latter, by which S. Carolina and 
Georgia are again in our possession except Charleston and Savannah. 
The Governors of those States have left Philadelphia to resume their 
Governments. Gen. Cornwallis is said to have lost 500 men by deser- 
tion and is retiring with his greatly diminished army towards Ports- 
mouth. 'Tis also reported that the Marquis has fallen upon his rear 
and killed and taken near 200, but as we have no official accounts of 
any of these transactions, I only give you such reports as gain credit 
here. 

Our allies are with us (perhaps about our number). Every civility 
and attention is paid to us. They are as fine a body of men as I 
ever beheld. The greatest harmony prevails between the allied 
armies and I think it will continue. Nothing so much wounds our 
feelings as to find ourselves unable to return the civilities we receive. 

I must now ask your attention to the disagreeable and often re- 
peated history of your own line of the army. The New England 
States, (except Connecticut), New York, New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
vania have paid and clothed their officers and soldiers so as to give 
them content. In January, February, March, April and May we 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 453 

were fed upon promises of a speedy payment of some part of our 
wages in solid coin, and different periods of payment have been 
affixed by the Council not less than three or four times, the last of 
which was the first of July; but not a farthing has been received to 
this day; our accounts are refused to be adjusted, and we having now 
taken the field cannot even extort an answer to our importunate 
applications ; we are wretched indeed, rendered mean and contempti- 
ble by our distresses and the resentments of every rank of battalion 
officers raised to the highest pitch, and you can no more convince our 
officers and men that the State ever designed to pay them than you 
can create a world; our officers are daily resigning and, with every 
possible importunity, I can scarcely persuade the other officers to 
remain in the field until there is time to receive an answer to the Gen- 
eral's letter and two of my own to the Council on the subj ect of their 
neglect. Without money I fear ten days will ruin our Line. 'Tis 
injustice to deny us our pay for eighteen months, and 'tis insult to 
drive us to the field where our own honor is concerned in remaining 
the campaign and then even refuse us soothing words. 

What can more sensibly affect the honor of a man than to receive 
every mark of respect from the French troops serving with us and 
in return ask them to drink a cup of cold water.'' Yet this is liter- 
ally our state. I know the State has so often heard of the danger of 
its Line disbanding, that a repetition makes very little impression, 
and our officers being compelled by indigence and extreme poverty to 
retire from the field is pleasing to the envious and malicious, the 
miser and the leveller, which compose too great a proportion of the 
State. I suppose by the conduct of my countrymen, they expect to 
obtain by their prayers, what less orthodox men are apt to believe is 
to be wrought out by our own exertions. 

I wish in addition to the first they would do a little of the latter. 
I should feel much easier in my mind, as I don't believe that since 
the days of miracles Providence assists those people who will not 
help themselves. I find by the acts of Assembly that we are to have 
785 men to fill up our Continental battalions, (we say we are more 
than 1300 deficient) 800 militia for three months and 1500 under 
General Waterbury till January; of the first we have received 12 
since the Assembly rose, including three who were mustered out and 
sent on again, none of the second and about 300 under General 
Waterbury; that of the estimation of the Government we are now 
2773 men deficient; the same proportion holds nearly in the other 
States, that of about 15,000 required and promised by the New Eng- 
land States only, we are deficient near 9000 men; but I won't scold 



454 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

any more lest you think it personal. However, I have some reason 
to expect something of importance will be attempted by surprise 
within four days, perhaps it will not; if 'tis attempted and we suc- 
ceed, it will nearly decide the fate of New York. 

I am sure you are tired of reading and for this and other reasons 
I must bid you adieu at present. 

I am Dr. Sr. yr. much obliged friend, 



Oa 



^9c 




cc/yn 



To Thomas Mumford. 

The surprise referred to was the movement of July 21, 
which was planned for the 14th, but was postponed on account 
of the heavy and incessant rains. 

I have so far treated the alleged " confidential friend " letter 
as genuine, but there is a very strong probability that, on the 
contrary, it is a forged or altered letter. Parsons in his cor- 
respondence often retained the original and forwarded a signed 
copy, for we find many of his originals among his papers. 
Washington and other officers were accustomed to do the same 
thing, so that a letter in the handwriting of a secretary over the 
author's signature was no more unusual or suspicious than is a 
signed typewritten letter to-day. It would have been very easy, 
therefore, for Heron without danger of detection to have forged 
a letter or copied and altered an original. The only difficulty 
would have been with the signature, for doubtless through per- 
mits and passes, Parsons' bold, round signature was well known 
at Headquarters and could not be counterfeited without great 
risk of detection. But Heron was in close quarters and some- 
thing had to be done. In a postscript to his letter he tells us 
what he did. " I thought it advisable to cut the name off the 
enclosed." What probability is there, that Parsons' name 
was there to cut off.'^ Parsons' letter not being in ex- 
istence, we have no means of knowing whether it was an 
original or a copy ; whether it was forged or altered, except 
as we can infer from circumstances. It it was an original, the 
desirability of committing Parsons to the fullest extent would 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 455 

seem to be the strongest reason for not removing the signature, 
for what better evidence against him could there be than a letter 
in his own handwriting, signed by his own hand? If it was a 
copy, this reason would press with still greater force, as then 
the signature would be the only means of authentication. If 
the letter were forged or altered, the signature, if any, must 
necessarily have been forged, and though the forgery might 
pass undetected for the moment, the constant fear of discovery 
would naturally make Heron think it " advisable to cut the name 
off," or pretend to do so. The fair inference from his act would 
seem to be that this letter, in the shape it appears in the 
" Record," was not written by Parsons but was gotten up by 
Heron. An original letter might have been used as a basis, for 
the sentences, " We have now taken a camp within about twelve 
miles of Kingsbridge where I expect we shall continue until we 
know whether the States will in any considerable degree comply 
with the requisitions made of them," and, " As the obj ect of the 
campaign is the reduction of New York, we shall now effectually 
try the patriotism of our countrymen, who have always given us 
assurances of assistance when this should become the object; of 
this I have had my doubts for several years, and wished it put 
to the test," for they express the well-known sentiments of Par- 
sons whose patience had been severely tried by the apathy of 
the States ; but the last clause, " The other matters of informa- 
tion you wish I shall be able to give you in a few days. The 
messenger awaits," reads like an excuse which Heron had added 
to account for the paucity of the information. If this infer- 
ence is correct, or is, as I believe it to be, so probably correct as 
to destroy the value of the letter as evidence, the annotator's 
charge is disposed of. But some may contend that the letter 
was an original and the signature cut off to save Parsons. Even 
so, but this would be an admission that the letter was a private 
one, used without Parsons' knowledge, for it is not to be sup- 
posed for a moment that if Parsons had so far compromised 
himself as to write to the enemy under the guise of a letter to 
Heron, that either Heron, or even Clinton himself, would be so 
stupid as to destroy the one piece of evidence which would have 
placed him so completely in their power. 

March 4, 1782, Conwav moved in the British Parliament 



456 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

"that the House would consider as enemies to his Majesty and 
the country all those who should advise, or by any means 
attempt, the further prosecution of war on the Continent of 
America." This was carried without a division. The next 
day the Attorney General introduced a plan for a truce, and 
orders soon went out for a cessation of hostilities. Of all this 
Clinton of course was duly informed. Parson had been in very 
feeble health throughout the Spring and on the 6th of April, 
1782, he writes that he has left the service, which practically, on 
account of his health, he had done some months before. And 
yet Heron, in the postscript of a letter to Sir Henry Clinton, 
dated March 4, 1782, the day Conway's resolution was passed, 
writes such bosh as the following, which ought to be sufficient 
to convince anyone that Heron was merely attempting to hood- 
wink Clinton for the purpose of obtaining money. 

I have kept General Parsons in a tolerable frame of mind since 
I had the pleasure of seeing you last, and although he was somewhat 
chagrined when I returned from this place last October, yet I am 
convinced that in endeavoring to serve you he has since rendered 
himself in some measure unpopular. As you very well remember, I 
acquainted you with this man's prevailing disposition and temper, 
and observed that although I believed him a rank Republican in prin- 
ciple, yet he was capable of serving you from other motives. The 
same motives are still existing, and in addition to them, disgust, 
chagrin and disaffection towards his superiors come in as powerful 
auxiliaries — his frustrating the expedition concerted by Tallmadge 
against Lloyd's Neck, his being an advocate for loyal subjects, and 
his being ready to communicate whatever comes to his knowledge 
of the secrets of the Cabinet, are facts which are indisputable. 
Whether such services merit any reward, or whether a man of prin- 
ciples can be useful to you, is not for me to say. However, he has 
been encouraged to expect something, and I suppose can't be kept 
much longer in countenance. For my own part I consider myself 
bound to persevere in discharging, as far as my situation will admit 
of, those duties which I owe my sovereign and my country. 

It is amusing to read of Heron's efforts to keep Parsons " in 
a tolerable frame of mind " — Parsons who is so willing to serve 
the enemy, so ready to furnish " every material article of intelli- 
gence," and so in earnest as to communicate information over his 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 457 

own signature ; — to listen to his intimation to Clinton that more 
money must be forthcoming, for Parsons is a man of such high 
principles, such a rank Republican, so devoted to the interests 
of his country, that he cannot be induced to serve except for 
money, and to observe with what deference he leaves it to Clinton 
to say " whether a man of principles can be useful to him." The 
three indisputable facts which Heron mentions. Parsons " frus- 
trating the expedition concerted by Tallmadge against Lloyd's 
Neck, his being an advocate for loyal subjects and his being 
ready to communicate whatever comes to his knowledge of the 
secrets of the Cabinet," are three indisputable falsehoods. As 
we have already seen by Parsons' letter of November 8, to 
Trumbull, and by his correspondence with General Heath, it was 
Parsons, not Tallmadge, who planned and urged upon Heath an 
expedition to break up the Tory nest at Lloyd's Neck ; who made 
all the preparations and secured from New London the fleet 
which was to co-operate ; and it was someone at Headquarters, 
and not Parsons, who frustrated the expedition. Heron 
undoubtedly knew all this, but how could he have reconciled Par- 
sons' persistent activity and determined hostility with his pre- 
vious representations to Clinton respecting him, had he told him 
the truth. Having been appointed to command the Coast Guard, 
Parsons undoubtedly endeavored, as he did in 1779, to break up 
illicit trading and prevent the plundering expeditions of the 
Shore people against the inhabitants of Long Island, all of 
which naturally made him unpopular with the marauders and 
brought upon him from this class accusations of protecting 
"loyal subjects." If Parsons were in fact so ready to com- 
municate the secrets of the Cabinet, and if Heron were such a 
friend of the British as he pretended to be, how did it happen 
that Clinton was left in the dark for ten days as to Washington's 
plans when he began his march to Yorktown ; and how was it 
that Parsons neglected to inform him of the projected raid upon 
the Tories at Lloyd's Neck. The fact that Heron's bureau of 
information always failed to work at critical periods is pretty 
good evidence that it had no existence. 

But the important part of this postscript is the following: — 
"Whether such services merit any reward, or whether a man of 
principles can be useful to you, ip not for me to say ; however, 



I 



458 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

he has been encouraged to expect something, and, I suppose, 
can't be kept much longer in countenance." This is virtually 
saying, that, although Parsons " has been encouraged to expect 
something," he has not as yet received anything ; and that unless 
something is forthcoming, his goodwill and favor " can't be 
kept much longer." Had Heron been able to satisfy Major 
DeLancey that Parsons had yielded to temptation and was 
actually furnishing intelligence, the money would certainly have 
been forthcoming, for Clinton had long before been authorized 
and urged by Lord George Germain to spare no expense in gain- 
ing over American officers of influence and reputation ; and the 
fact that money, though often asked for, was not forthcoming, 
must be taken as conclusive evidence that Heron had as yet given 
no satisfactory proof that he had done or would be able to do 
those things he had promised. There could have been no diffi- 
culty in furnishing the proof had Parsons been guilty, and 
satisfactory proof was absolutely essential to the success of 
Heron's scheme to obtain money. Why then does he not furnish 
it.'^ The only answer can be that Parsons is innocent, and 
Heron's negotiation to bring him over, a pretence and a fraud. 
This is the whole case against Parsons. It rests entirely 
upon the unsupported statements of Heron contained in the fore- 
going letters. Many of these statements we have seen to be 
improbable; some have been shown to be false and all are dis-. 
credited by Heron's admission in the postscript to his letter of 
March 4, 1782. Heron wrote under no fear of detection 
except from the British. Within this limit, he was entirely free 
to mix up truth and falsehood in any proportions which would 
best suit his purposes, for he never dreamed that his letters, once 
buried in the archives of the British Secret Service, would ever 
rise up to torment him. These letters make a great show of zeal 
in the British cause, but the valuable information which Heron 
brought to Parsons, contrasted with the worthless rubbish with 
which he amused Headquarters, should be sufficient to convince 
everyone that his interest was not real. A desire to plunder the 
enemy and obtain early intelligence of their plans and purposes, 
seems to have inspired his letters and his actions. Deception, 
as we have seen, was a weapon he did not hesitate to use. To 
accept statements, made under such circumstances and with such 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 459 

objects in view, as evidence prejudicial to an officer of un- 
blemished reputation and with a high sense of honor, who had 
risked life and property in the service of his country, evinces 
either an astonishing degree of credulity, or a burning anxiety 
to discover something with which to blacken the reputation of 
any so presumptuous as to dispute the authority of his 
Majesty, King George. 

The Hon. Joseph Gurley Woodward, in an able and exhaus- 
tive paper read. May 5, 1896, before the Connecticut Historical 
Society, after reviewing the whole evidence and showing the 
utter absurdity and falsity of the charge against Parsons, thus 
characterizes Heron : — " William Heron was a professional spy ; 
he swore falsely in the General Assembly, betrayed his employers 
on both sides, and, by his own statement, was engaged in a 
scheme, either to rob a British officer of his gold or his intimate 
friend of his honor. Parsons knew him as a Whig; Clinton 
knew him as a Tory ; we know him as a liar. The unsup- 
ported testimony of such a witness against any man, where de- 
flection from the truth would be of advantage, should not have a 
pin's weight." 

Clinton's " Secret Service Record," unfortunately was anno- 
tated by one to whom might well be applied the remark made by 
Sparks in reference to the English historian, Adolphus, " that 
prejudice and embittered feelings are infirmities peculiarly 
unfortunate in a historian, whose aim should be, truth, candor 
and justice." With little knowledge of Parsons and no sym- 
pathy with the cause for which he fought, the unsupported state- 
ments of Heron are seized upon with an eagerness not begotten 
of a desire for truth or justice, and the rotten charge exhumed 
with almost " ghoulish glee " from the " Record," is flung out 
to the world for professional iconoclasts and sensational histo- 
rians to feed upon. High character, eminent services, uniformly 
consistent and patriotic conduct, a reputation unsullied through 
a long and honorable career, the fact of his having the entire 
confidence of Washington with whom he was intimately asso- 
ciated, and of all the military and civil officers of his State, weigh 
nothing against inherited prejudices, and the declaration is 
boldly and unblushingly made that Heron's letters " conclusively 
show that while a Major Genei'al in the American Army, and 



460 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

the senior General Officer of the Connecticut troops in that 
Army, he was in secret communication with the enemy and fur- 
nished them intelHgence," — and this, notwithstanding that every 
act and utterance of his from the beginning to the end of his 
life, gives the lie to the charge and throws the burden of proof 
upon his accuser, who, unless able to sustain himself by irrefut- 
able evidence, must be regarded by the world as a libeller, and his 
act all the more mean and contemptible because directed against 
a man no longer able to speak for himself. 



1 



CHAPTER XXV 

Shay's Rebellion. Letters to Johnson. Appointed Commis- 
sioner TO Treat with the Shawanese. Journey to the Miami. 
Visits the Falls of the Ohio. Negotiations with the In- 
dians. Treaty Concluded February First. Terms of the 
Treaty. Letter to President Willard, giving an Account 
OF His Observations and Discoveries in the Ohio Country. 

July, 1782— October, 1786 

After leaving the Army, General Parsons fixed his residence at 
Middletown, Connecticut, to which place he had already removed 
his family, intending to resume there the practice of his profes- 
sion. A more attractive spot for a home or a more promising 
place for business, he could not have selected in all the State, 
for the town at this time was in a thriving condition, second in 
population only to New Haven and Hartford, the population of 
New Haven by the census of 1782, being 7966; of Hartford, 
5495 and of Middletown, 4612. 

Unfortunately, Parsons after his retirement was very slow in 
regaining his health and strength, and for that reason was 
unable for a long time to resume actively his professional labors. 
Impoverished by the war and feeling the necessity of an 
immediate income for the support of his family, he wrote as 
follows to his friend, William Samuel Johnson, then INIember of 
Congress from Connecticut, and afterwards United States Sena- 
tor and President of Columbia College, asking his assistance in 
procuring the office of Collector of Imposts for Connecticut: — 

Middletown, July 2, 1782. 
Dear Sir. — I apply to you at this time on a subject interesting 
and important to me, because I have from former experience found 
you willing to do me any friendly office in your power. It is to beg 
your assistance to procure for me the office of Collector of the Impost 
for this State; Mr. Morris informs me the office is in the gift of 

461 



462 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Congress, and that he is willing to aid me as far as it is proper for 
him, but the nomination for this office will be by the delegates of the 
State. Judge Huntington has written to Secretary Thomson on the 
subject, and Governor Trumbull assures me of his friendship. I 
need not repeat to you the many inconveniencies of my pres- 
ent situation, nor need I tell you, to whom 'tis fully known, 
that these inconveniences are the result of seven years service 
in the Army. You must be very sensible that my feelings will 
be wounded by returning to the profession of the law, and, in- 
deed, the labor and fatigue of that business will be too great for 
my enfeebled constitution to endure. On many accounts my claim 
to the appointment is preferable to most other persons, and in 
none to be postponed to any other candidate. I think where I relin- 
quish all claim to present support or future compensation, I may 
fairly ask for any office in the gift of the public to the discharge of 
which my abilities are competent. As to the place of residence, I 
shall make no difficulty. New London will be as agreeable to me 
as any other, and whatever securities are necessary for a faithful 
execution of the trust I am ready to procure. The salary of the office 
I don't know; but should it be less than a support for my family, it 
would at least ease me of much labor by enabling me to confine my 
business to a less compass. I wish to hear from you on the subject, 
and if you think it necessary, I will come to Philadelphia. I have rea- 
son to expect the friendship of the gentlemen joined with you from 
this State and have no doubt of your kind assistance. 

I am with sentiments of great respect, Dear Sir, 

Yr. Obedient Servt., 
To William Samuel Johnson. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Parsons does not appear to have been successful in his appli- 
cation, but the people of ]\Iiddletown showed their appreciation 
of his services by electing him frequently to the General Assem- 
bly during the next few years. 

The following letter General Parsons addressed to the Judges 
of the Superior Court of Connecticut, requesting them to com- 
municate it to the Governor and Council in such manner as they 
deemed proper: — 

Hartford, November 22, 1782. 
Gentlemen. — Mr. Walters, a classmate and intimate friend of' 
mine, who is a gentleman (except in his political creed) of a very 
amiable character, has lately been made prisoner to the United States, 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 463 

and having been out to answer his parole, I had an interview with 
him, and strongly importuned him to find if no way could be devised 
to relieve our subjects now in imprisonment in New York, and he 
engaged to apply to the Admiral on the subject and inform me on 
his arrival in New York, and accordingly, I have received the fol- 
lowing letter from him which I think it my duty to communicate to 
the Governor and Council, and request your Honors to communicate 
the same in such manner as shall appear proper. 

(Copy.) 

New York, November 18th, 1782. 
Dear Sir. — Having an earlier opportunity of writing than I ex- 
pected, I avail myself of it to acquaint you of my safe arrival at my 
home and finding my family very well. 

I have not had time to make full inquiry into the subject of your 
prisoners, about which we were conversing when I had the pleasure 
to see you, but from the general knowledge which I have and the 
little I have learned already, I am of opinion that if a proper person 
duly authorized from the State should make application to the 
Admiral for the release of the prisoners of the State on a full dis- 
charge of those that may be now with you and an absolute engage- 
ment to send in such as may from time to time fall into your hands, 
that he would certainly succeed, for I know that the State of Con- 
necticut stands very fair with his Excellency on the score of ex- 
change, and that he truly sympathises with the persons confined on 
account of their being very illy provided for withstanding the in- 
clemencies of the approaching season. 

Wishing you all happiness, I am. Dear Sir, 

Yr. most Obedt. Serv't., 

W. Walter. 
P. S. — Should such person be thought proper to send, I need not 
say that I wish you may be the one. 

I am with great esteem yr. Honors Obed't Ser'vt, 

Saml. H. Parsons. 

The "Society of the Cincinnati" was instituted May 13, 
1783, by the officers of the Revolutionary Army under the com- 
mand of General Washington, at the Headquarters of Baron 
Steuben, in the Highlands of the Hudson. General Parsons 
became a member of the Society, as did most of the officers of 
the Army. Washington was elected the first President ; Parsons 
for some time was President of the Connecticut Branch. 

The basic principles of the Society are : — 



464 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

An incessant attention to preserve inviolate those exalted rights 
and liberties of human nature for which they have fought and bled, 
and without which the high rank of a rational being is a curse instead 
of a blessing. 

An unalterable determination to promote and cherish between 
the respective States, that union and national honor so essentially 
necessary to their happiness and the future dignity of the American 
Empire. 

Knowing how absolutely harmless this Society has proved to 
be, it is amusing to read to-day of the general disapproval it met 
with throughout the country. " It was to be hereditary in the 
family of the members ; it had a badge or order, offensive in 
Republican eyes as imitating the European orders of Knight- 
hood ; it admitted foreign officers who had served in America and 
their descendants ; it provided for an indefinite accumulation of 
funds which were to be disposed of at the discretion of the 
members ; it was anti-republican, and a most dangerous political 
engine." 

On the 4th of January, 1785, occurred an interesting event in 
General Parsons' family, the marriage of his eldest daughter 
Lucia, not yet twenty-one, to Stephen Titus Hosmer, one year 
her senior, a brilliant young lawyer of Middletown, destined to 
become the Chief Justice of the State. He was a graduate of 
Yale, as were his father and grandfather before him, and a 
student of law in the office of Oliver Ellsworth, Chief Justice of 
the United States, after whom he named his youngest child. In 
1823, Hosmer was honored by his Alma Mater with the degree 
of Doctor of Laws. 

General Parsons, who was now in the Connecticut Legislature, 
wrote from jMiddletown, May 21, to his friend William 
Samuel Johnson, as follows : 

Dear Sir. — The vote of the General Election you have doubtless 
known before this time. The gentlemen of the Superior Court, who 
were all of the Council, have resigned their seats at the Council 
Board, their friends having made an ineffectual effort to repeal the 
law which made them capable of holding both offices. In conse- 
quence. General Erastus Wolcott, Mr. Treadwell and Mr. Sturges 
have been appointed of the Council and have taken their seats. 
McLane is chosen Chief Judge and General Wadsworth the assistant 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 465 

Judge of the Superior Court in the lower house; but this matter is 
not yet settled. 

The troops in this State are ordered to be raised and the officers 
in command are appointed. One thing appears to me very necessary 
for raising the full quota, for the small monthly pay will hardly 
induce men to enlist, but should Congress assign the lands promised 
to the soldiers in that region, I believe we should readily raise our 
quota of very good men, who will go out with views of permanent 
residence in that country. This appears to me of so much conse- 
quence that I hope Congress will not omit to ascertain the place 
and manner of our taking up our land. 

Mr. Sturges informs me you were kind enough to request me to 
nominate to you our surveyor of that country for this State. I am 
so far unacquainted with your system as to be unable to j udge of the 
duty of this officer, or the pay or other profits of the appointment; 
whether he is to be an actual resident in that country, and survey the 
lands granted to individuals or States, or only register the surveys 
made under his orders and generally superintend that business. Of 
either I believe myself capable, and having, as you well know, long 
entertained ideas of establishing myself, or at least finding an estate 
in that country, I beg you to consider whether this, or some other 
appointment there, would answer my wishes. If so, I shall hope for 
your friendship in procuring me such appointment. I care little for 
the name; it is only the substantial benefit I look at. If it is only 
the mechanical part of the business this officer is to attend to and his 
profits arise only from the actual surveys made by him, perhaps it 
will not be worth my attention. However, of this you are the more 
competent to judge. If so, give me leave to inform you that Mr. 
Obadiah Gore, an officer of our Line and a late inhabitant of Wyo- 
ming, is an ingenious surveyor and accurate in his drafts and much 
used to traversing the country in its wild state, who will, I believcj 
gladly accept the appointment and do great justice in the execution 
of it.* 

Nothing yet is done respecting the recommendation of Congress 
to provide for the foreign debt. The committee to which that and 
other revenue matters are referred, (of which I am one) has unani- 
mously agreed to make any provision, in any way, whereby the 
foreign and domestic national debt shall be secured, only provided — 
in any way by imposts or some other way by which the revenues shall 
be derived from the joint benefits of the States and paid into the 
common treasury, (subject to the order of Congress only) and Con- 
gress be granted the right of regulating the trade of the United 



466 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

States. I have thought of granting the imposts on the agreement of 
nine States and in the meantime would be disposed to secure ourselves 
from the nefarious consequences of New York's refusing the imposts. 
If any kind of provision can be made for me, I am sure you will 
be inclined to befriend me. 

I am with great esteem, your obed't servt., 
To Wm. S. Johnson. Saml. H. Parsons. 

The three following letters are also from General Parsons to 
Mr. Johnson: — 

MiDDLETowN, Juue 13, 1786. 

Dear Sir. — I have received your favor in answer to my two let- 
ters. Your attention to me demands my grateful acknowledgement, 
but several reasons induce me to beg your friendship for my friend 
Pomeroy, for the appointment to which I stand nominated, viz: 
A Commissioner for settling accounts in Virginia. First, I believe 
him better qualified for that office than I am, and he is in 
need of some appointment as well as myself. Second, The pay of 
that office will not exceed seven hundred pounds per annum. I have 
been a Major General in the Army and in Virginia I must carry 
that rank with me or fall into disgrace, and I believe it will be more 
than twice the expense for me to live there than for another man who 
has never held the military rank I have held. 

I know the office of a surveyor is a subordinate one, not honorary, 
nor can I yet find how far it may be lucrative. Simply the fees of 
office would not tempt a man to undergo the fatigue and risk, but, as 
it stands in connection with the future disposal of the land, I think 
it may be worth trying, especially as Land Companies may be dis- 
posed to make a compensation, and the Army Locations are also 
much dependent on a full knowledge of that country. The fatigue 
or risk will by no manner of means prevent my undertaking, if I 
find other prospects to my mind. Before I decide, I should choose 
to become acquainted with the geographer and know his character 
and views ; however, as I shall be named to you by the Governor, I 
wish to be appointed and noticed, on which I will go to New York 
and fully inform myself. If the place of a Commissioner to treat 
with the Indians, or a superintendency of Indian Affairs with a kind 
of Consular authority, can be promised, I can as well answer my 
purposes as by a survey; the last is preferable; the first not incon- 
sistent with the survey, but may be assistant in the execution. 
I am, dear Sir, with the greatest respect 

Your obedient servant. 
To Wm. S. Johnson. Saml. H. Parsons. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 467 

MiDDLETOwN, July 31, 1785. 
My Dear Sir. — My unlucky stars are forever placing me where 
I should not be. By a letter from our friend Baldwin, I find I 
ought to have been at New York four days ago, (and it does not 
appear likely the appointment of a Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
is suspended to this time,) and my journey cannot avail me should 
I undertake it. I must, therefore, trust to the exertions of my friends 
who, I am sure, will do what in propriety can be done to gratify my 
wishes. However, to remove the objection of my appointment in 
Virginia, I have herewith sent a letter of resignation of my former 
appointment to be used if this Commissioner is not appointed, and if 
it should become necessary for the purpose. If this should not be 
couched in proper terms, or other better adapted reasons can be 
assigned, I wish the favor of you and Mr. Baldwin to prepare an- 
other letter of resignation in my name and have it presented if neces- 
sary. I have written to Mr. Foster and several other gentlemen of 
Congress, which I have enclosed, open. Those of them which you 
think best should be delivered, and I beg you to take the trouble to 
seal and deliver. Those which will do me no good, I wish may be 
suppressed ; this depending on circumstances existing at the time and 
on the particular feelings of them, I cannot judge of at this dis- 
tance. I am sorry to be obliged to give you so much trouble. I fear 
I shall never be able to repay your friendship. I would not wish to 
relinquish my present appointment unless it is necessary to secure 
the other. I am &c., 

r, T 7 Saml. H. Parsons. 

To Wm. S. Johnson. 

P. S. — The ordinance of Congress that no man hold two offices (if 
there be such an one) cannot affect my case; I am surely eligible 
though I can't hold both. The case of Dr. Lee who is nominated to 
the Treasury and is now one of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs, 
is a proof of it. 

MiDDLETowN, August 9, 1785. 
Dear Sir. — I received a letter of the 26th ult. from Mr. Baldwin 
informing me you were kind enough to put me in nomination for the 
place resigned by General Wolcott, and by a postcript that the elec- 
tion was assigned for the 28th. This leaving me no time to arrive 
at New York before the day of election, rendered it an unnecessary 
step for me to go to New York. I, therefore, wrote a number of 
letters to Dr. Johnson, Mr. Baldwin, Mr. Foster, Mr. Howell, Gen- 
eral McDougall and Mr. Chas. McEvers, enclosed, open, in a cover 
to Mr. Baldwin lest you should be absent, desiring him, if you were 



468 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

in New York, to consult you on the subject, and, if the election was 
not made, to deliver such of those as you should judge proper. I 
also enclosed a Carte Blanche to write whatever you thought proper 
respecting my Virginia appointment, since which I have received one 
of the 28th, the day on which the election was to have taken place, 
but, as it had not taken place when he wrote, I concluded it was laid 
by for that day. I since find my letter to General McDougall has 
been delivered — the enclosed is his answer. I believe I may form 
some expectation of Mr. Lawrence's vote and perhaps of the State 
of New York through that medium. Mr. McEvers wiU have influ- 
ence with Delaware and some southern members. Massachusetts 
may be prevailed upon if Col. Pickering can have my present ap- 
pointment, which I am sure he will prefer. How far Dr. McHenry, 
with whom I have some acquaintance, will favor me, I cannot say; 
perhaps Virginia may not be unfriendly, but on this I do not build. 
I shall much prefer this to the other appointment. The uncertainty 
of the time, whether the appointment is not already made, prevents 
my going to New York. I am sure your friendship will be necessary 
to accomplish my wishes. 

Pray inform me whether t'will be necessary to go down and when. 
If I should obtain this appointment, would not the tour and a return 
through Mississippi to Georgia be agreeable to your son ? 

I am &c.. 
To Wm. S. Johnson. Saml. H. Parsons. 

The insurrection in Massachusetts, known as Shay's Rebel- 
lion, had at this time assumed alarming proportions. The in- 
surgents declared the whole machinery of government to be a 
scheme of oppression and openly proclaimed their right to dis- 
regard all laws obnoxious to them. In Bristol, Worcester and 
Middlesex Counties, an armed mob had compelled the judges to 
adjourn their courts. An attempt was made to seize the Arsenal 
at Springfield, and it was the evident purpose of the malcon- 
tents to march on Boston and, if possible, to take possession of 
the Capitol. The license running riot across the border was 
rapidly spreading into Connecticut. Windham had voted the 
Court of Common Pleas a nuisance and directed its representa- 
tives in the Legislature to move for paper money to depreciate 
five per cent, annually for twenty years, a scheme worthy of 
some modern financiers. Fearful of the consequences unless the 
insurrection should be promptly put down. Parsons wrote as 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 469 

follows regarding the matter to his friend, i\Ir. Johnson in 
Congress : — 

MiDDLETOwN, October 2, 1785. 
Sir. — You will doubtless wish to have a more particular knowledge 
of the insurgency in Massachusetts and the hopeful prospect of a 
crop of sedition in our Country. Two of the Judges of the Supreme 
Court are now here from Springfield, and from them I find that on 
Tuesday morning, General Shepard with a body of militia took pos- 
session of the street near the Court House in Springfield and drew 
up his men in order and planted a field piece or two near the Court 
House for the protection of the Court. In the afternoon of that day, 
the Court opened and adjourned to Wednesday. The insurgents 
formed themselves in martial order at about half a mile distant, and 
in the evening sent a committee to the Court demanding that no civil 
causes should be tried nor any indictment found against the rioters 
at Northampton or against them for their present assembling. This 
was refused by the Court. On Wednesday the Court opened and 
adjourned to Thursday and then adjourned without day and without 
doing any business. On Wednesday the insurgents sent out for rein- 
forcements from Berkshire and Worcester Counties, which arrived on 
Thursday morning. General Shepard's force was fluctuating till 
Thursday, when, being purged of the dross, they amounted to eight 
hundred and fifty men, well armed and disposed to fight. Among 
these was one entire company of Continental officers under the com- 
mand of Colonel Oliver. The insurgents were about twelve hundred, 
nine hundred of whom were armed with fire arms and three hundred 
with staves and clubs. When the Court adjourned without day, Shep- 
ard marched out of the town to secure the Continental stores. The 
insurgents marched in with drums and fifes playing and colors flying, 
and the Judges took themselves to places of more safety. The insur- 
gents were prevented with difficulty by their leader from beginning 
an attack on Shepard, and he with as much difficulty restrained his 
men from commencing an attack on them. On the whole, the business 
of the Court has been entirely prevented by the insurgents in the 
Counties of Middlesex, Worcester, Hampshire and Berkshire, in the 
last of which they have opened the prison doors and set the prisoners 
free in the face of the militia, who refused to oppose them. The real 
grievances are the existence of public and private debts ; if both are 
abolished, I believe the people will be quiet for a small season. In 
this State their doctrines gain ground and are publicly avowed by 
great numbers, though at present we can outnumber them. Wind- 



470 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ham, the first in the cause of liberty or licentiousness, has had a town 
meeting in which they have voted the Court of Common Pleas a nui- 
sance and directed their deputies to move for paper money to depre- 
ciate five per cent annually for twenty years. In short, I believe if 
measures are not taken by the present General Court in Boston (then 
in special session) to put a final stop to those commotions in that 
State, we shall be as effectually destroyed within three months as 
that State at present is. 

It is the urgent wish of your friends that both you and Mr. 
Sturges attend our Assembly, and that a delegation be sent from 
Congress to enforce their requisitions. I hope to see you this week. 
In the mean time, 

I am &c., 
To William Samuel Johnson, M. C. Saml. H. Parsons. 

On the 25th of June, 1785, Congress had directed a treaty to 
be negotiated with the Shawanese and other Western Indians. 
On the 22d of September, General Parsons was appointed by 
Congress " one of the Commissioners for the extinguishment of 
the Indian claims to lands northwest of the Ohio." Associated 
with him were General George Rogers Clarke of Kentucky and 
General Richard Butler of Pennsylvania. Clarke was by birth 
a Virginian and noted as an Indian fighter. His capture of 
Kaskaskia and Vincennes in 1789 had won him the appellation 
of the Hannibal of the West. Butler had served with distinc- 
tion during the War as Lieut. Colonel in Morgan's Rifle Corps. 
Butler left his home at Carlisle, September 9, and arrived at 
Fort Pitt on the 16th. With him was a young Member of Con- 
gress, Colonel James Monroe, Jeff^erson's successor in the Presi- 
dency, who desirous of seeing the country, accompanied Butler 
as far as Limestone in Kentucky, whence he returned by way of 
Lexington to his home in Virginia. Leaving Fort Pitt, the 
26th, with several boat loads of goods and provisions to be used 
in the negotiations with the Indians, and a company of infantry 
under the command of Captain Finney, Butler reached the 
mouth of the Miami on the 22d of October, at which place he 
was joined the next day by General Clarke. 

General Parsons left Middletown for the Ohio on the 4th of 
October, as appears from his letter of the 3d to Colonel 
Wadsworth : — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 471 

MiDDLETowN, October 3d, 1785. 
Sir. — I am obliged to set off to-morrow about noon for the Indian 
treaty on the Ohio. I should have wished to have seen you before 
I took my leave of this city, but time will not admit. I have to beg 
of you to furnish me with letters to your acquaintances in Philadel- 
phia, Lancaster and Carlisle in Pennsylvania, and a letter of credit 
for one hundred dollars. I do not imagine I shall want more money 
than I have, but I am going to a country unknown to me, and cannot 
be covered by my friends against accidents. 

I am in haste. Dear Sir, your obedient servant, 

Saml. H. Parsons. 
To Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth, Hartford. 

P. S. — If you are coming to Middletown to-morrow, I will wait 
till eleven o'clock, or see you at New Haven to-morrow, if you are 
going that way. 

Upon his arrival at Trenton, he wrote as follows to his son, 
William Walter, at Middletown: — 

Trenton, October IJf, 1785. 
Dear William. — It rained yesterday so as to stop me at Prince- 
ton from whence I came this morning, and to ease my horses shall 
take my baggage in the stage and expect to reach Philadelphia to- 
night and to proceed on Sunday for Pittsburgh. I have left a little 
money for your mother with Capt. Watson which she may draw 
for when she wants, but before she draws at the end of my first 
quarter she must be informed whether Capt. Watson has received 
my pay; this he will inform her of or she may send to enquire. Just 
as I was leaving New York, Mr. Morrison and Dr. Cogswell applied 
to me for the purchase of the Horseneck farm; I gave the lowest 
price, which was 630 pounds lawful money — and that the notes in 
my name, which Dr. Cogswell received of me for the Pauguronk ( ?) 
lands, should be taken in payment as far as they would go — the rest 
in money; they are going to see the farm, and if they like it, will 
apply to you on the subject. I am clearly of the opinion you had 
best take that price and pay. Tell Mr. Hosmer that if he draws off 
my account against Thomas Pratt and sends it to Mr. Townshend at 
Colchester, he will collect the money. I shall send back from Fort 
Pitt if I can, after which you may not expect to hear from me until 
my return from Pittsburgh or 'till I arrive at Richmond, which I 
intend to attempt through the wilderness. 

I am yours affectionately. 
To William Walter Parsons. S. H. Parsons. 



472 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The farm at Horseneck referred to, was the 151 acres granted 
him by Connecticut in October, 1781, for four pounds ten shill- 
ings per acre, in exchange for obligations held by him against 
the State. 

October 16, General Parsons, then in Philadelphia, wrote to 
Colonel Edward Carrington, a Member of Congress from Vir- 
ginia, in regard to a third Commissioner to adjust the Virginia 
accounts : — 

Philadelphia, October 16th, 1785. 
Sir. — I am unhappy to find so good a man as Colonel Pickerings 
of whose integrity and abilities we mutually entertained so good an 
opinion, is necessitated to decline the nomination we have made of 
him as a third Commissioner. As I am now on my way to the Indian 
Treaty, I shall have no other opportunity of writing you before I 
hope to meet you at Richmond in the month of December or January 
next. I therefore, take the liberty of naming to you General Wil- 
liam Irvine of Carlisle in Pennsylvania, or Ralph Pomeroy, Esq., of 
Hartford in Connecticut, as a third Commissioner to adjust those 
accounts. General Irvine's character I imagine is equally known to 
both of us; so, Mr. Pomeroy 's character. If either of those gentle- 
men will be agreeable to you, I consent to your requesting their 
acceptance and will join you myself as soon as possible. In the 
meantime I have desired Mr. Johnson, (son of Wm. S. Johnson), 
whom I have appointed my clerk, to go on to Richmond as soon as 
he can, and, until my arrival, he will do what he can to assist you, 
and to your patronage I would commend him. 

I am &c., 
To Colonel Edward Carrington. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Richmond, Va. 

P. S. — Col. Thomas Heartly of York Town in Pennsylvania, is 
a gentleman with whom I shall be satisfied if he is more agreeable 
to you; if either of those gentlemen are acceded to on my part, I 
wish you to write duplicates to them that they may be able to have 
one of your letters with the Secretary of Congress to warrant his 
draft on the Treasury. 

On the same day (October 16), General Parsons left Phila- 
delphia for Pittsburgh. His first stage was twenty-six miles 
which brought him into what was known as the " Great Valley," 
a fertile tract underlaid with limestone — the source of lime for 
all the surrounding country. The next day he reached Lancas- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 473 

ter, sixty-six miles from Philadelphia, where he found two of his 
compatriots, General Hand and Colonel Atlee, and with them 
" spent an agreeable evening." From this place he wrote to 
his friend, William Samuel Johnson, respecting the Virginia 
accounts : — 

Lancaster, October 18th, 1785. 
Sir. — I arrived here last night without any accident of conse- 
quence, and am to-day pursuing my route to Pittsburgh, where I 
hope to arrive in eight days. I get no news of the Commissioners 
or of the disposition of the Indians. I think it a fortunate circum- 
stance to have come first into this country before I go to Virginia, 
if I finally settle those claims. I am fully convinced the United 
States should not be in haste to adjust those accounts. The supplies 
furnished from the Magazines of the Continent in the back country, 
the boats and men furnished from our Posts to General Clarke on 
that expedition, and the stores sent from New Orleans by Willing 
which were seized by General Clarke and applied to the use of that 
expedition, the orders of the State of Virginia to seize the property 
of the non-juring inhabitants, the amount of the property so taken 
and the mode of payment for the supplies furnished by that State, 
are all enquiries of serious consequence in this matter. I shall make 
every inquiry on this subject. Much information I have received. 
When I see Clarke, I think I can draw out the whole history. 

I am &c.. 
To William Samuel Johnson. Saml. H. Parsons. 

On the 18th, Parsons rode to Middletown on the Susquehanna 
River six miles below the Falls, a distance of thirteen miles. On 
the morning of the 19th he arrived at Harris' Ferry, now Harris- 
burgh, then an infant city scarcely four months old, but, already 
boasting some forty houses and growing rapidly. About five 
miles west of the River, he found Major Reed of Hazcn's regi- 
ment, who had beaten his sword into a plough-share and was 
raising on his fine plantation a thousand bushels of wheat a 
year. That night he reached Carlisle, where he found a " richer 
soil, a pleasanter situation and a politer circle than at any place 
since he left Philadelphia." He called upon Mrs. Butler, wife 
of his fellow Commissioner, " an exceedingly polite and agree- 
able woman." General William Irvine, who lives at Carlisle, 
" is doing me every friendly office to forward me on my 
way." 



474 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

He learned here that " General Butler left Fort Pitt the first 
inst., and that the information from the Indian country does not 
indicate the most friendly disposition in the natives." " I shall 
have," he writes, " a lonely route down the River to join him, 
five hundred and fifty miles from Pittsburgh, but am determined 
to surmount every difficulty and danger to accomplish the object 
of my commission." The roads through this country he finds 
unusually good ; that which he passed over in going from Eliza- 
bethtown to Carlisle is far better than that from Middletown to 
Hartford. On the 21st, he rode from Carlisle through the 
Cumberland Valley to Chambersburgh, " meeting," he says, " a 
greater crowd of travellers to the Ohio in one day, than you will 
find through Middletown in a week. I have passed to-day seven 
with their families and several pack horses, besides other 
travellers, all bound the same way. ... I hope to reach Fort 
Littleton to-morrow and to be at Pittsburgh next Wednesday if 
rain or accident doth not prevent. I still intend to go to Vir- 
ginia when I have finished the treaty, but design coming home in 
the Spring." After a tedious ride over the Alleghanies, Parsons 
reached Pittsburgh (Fort Pitt), on Thursday, the 27th. On the 
same day he wrote at length to William Samuel Johnson, in Con- 
gress, regarding Indian affairs : — 

Fort Pitt, October 27th, 1785. 
Dear Sir. — I arrived this morning and find General Butler has 
been gone a month. The troops left Fort Mcintosh last Tuesday 
and I shall leave this place on the 29th, one day being necessary 
to make my preparations. I find this a more serious and arduous busi- 
ness than I apprehended, nor do I believe all the treaties we can make 
will be of any utility whilst the Posts on the Western Waters are 
in the hands of the British troops ; nor are the Indians such insensi- 
ble animals as some have considered them. The less removed a 
person is from a state of nature, the fewer and more simple are his 
ideas, yet some truths are as clearly discerned by them as by persons 
more refined and civilized. The Indians reason thus: — we, say 
they, grew out of this land; our fathers were planted here by the 
great Spirit, and he gave us this land; if you take it from us, we 
have no hunting ground and our wives and our children cannot be 
subsisted. You, say they, live by tilling the ground and have land 
enough; we live by hunting the deer and must have more room — 
therefore, you are unjust to take our lands from us. The great 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 475 

King over the Water never owned our lands and could not give 
them away, and he tells us he never has given you our lands, only 
granted to you the right of protecting us. You told us last year 
you had conquered us and the lands were your own, and that you 
were going with your soldiers to take possession of Detroit; you did 
not tell us the truth. Why have you not got possession of Detroit, 
and, if it is peace, our lands are still our own. On the whole, I own 
there appears to me so much reason in their observations that I 
scarcely, know a sufficient answer. 

It is not my province to call in question the propriety of our 
proceedings, yet let me suggest a thought. Suppose the land to be 
our own, is it not more expedient to give content to the Indians by 
purchasing such tracts as they will sell, than to hold out an idea 
which fires their pride and alarms their fears and will probably 
deluge our frontiers with blood.'' Very many families have gone 
from these parts to Detroit in the year past. Two hundred families 
have crossed the Ohio at one ferry. The British give them lands, 
implements of husbandry and a year's provisions. The Indians have 
lately held a great Council to brighten their chain, as they say, but, 
as is here believed, to form a general combination for defending 
their country, and an Indian war seems to be apprehended here. 
The Indians at the treaty last year, allege they were forced to sign 
the deed to convey their lands, and I am convinced they do not 
intend we shall proceed in the survey until some further satisfaction 
is made them. This is a fine country from the Alleghany mountains, 
though hilly; the soil is rich, the timber flourishing and the earth 
free from stone and well watered. 'Tis pity peace cannot give 
Spring to the industry of the inhabitants. 

I am convinced this is the only proper route to be taken to get a 
knowledge sufficient to settle the Virginia accounts with justice; 
and Congress ought by no means to be in haste to close that account. 
I have taken minutes of every information relative to that matter, 
and shall be better able to satisfy my own mind on the subject than 
by three months' inquiry in Virginia. I shall go down the River the 
day after to-morrow and hope to be at the Treaty in eight or ten days, 
but the waters are yet low and I have five hundred and fifty miles 
to the Miami. 

I intend, if practicable, to return by the wilderness to Virginia; 
if not, I shall winter in Kentucky or proceed to New Orleans, as I 
see little prospect of returning this way in the winter. 

I am &c., 
To Dr. William S. Johnson. Saml. H. Parsons. 



476 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Arthur Lee in his journal says of Pittsburgh in 1784: — 

Its inhabitants are almost entirely Scotch and Irish, wlio live in 
paltry log cabins. A great deal of small trade is carried on, mostly 
for barter, the goods being brought from Philadelphia and Balti- 
more at a cost of forty-five shillings per cwt. There are in the 
town four attorneys, two doctors and not a priest of any persuasion, 
nor church nor chapel, so that they are likely to be damned without 
benefit of clergy. The place, I believe, will never be very con- 
siderable. Batteaux pass daily with whole families, stock and furni- 
ture, for Kentucky. 

On the 29th of October, General Parsons commenced " his 
lonely route " down the Ohio to the mouth of the Miami. The 
voyage, so far as appears from his correspondence, was unevent- 
ful except for an occasional collision with snags in the channel 
and an attack from the Indians at Double Island, a few miles 
above the Station at Limestone. In a letter to his children 
written from the Great Miami, November 21, he gives the fol- 
lowing account of the affair : — 

At four o'clock in the afternoon, as we were carelessly floating 
down the River awaiting the coming up of six boats in company 
which we had left about two miles astern, we received a fire from 
five skulking Indians who had concealed themselves in the willows 
by the side of the River within forty yards of us. I had not been 
more off my guard during the voyage. I was leaning on the awning 
standing on a thwart of the boat, and not a man but was in fair view, 
where with the greatest deliberation they had opportunity to take 
the best aim, but no man was hurt. We returned their fire with all 
the arms we had, but apparently with no better success. We pulled 
to the point of an island and landed, where we awaited the arrival 
of our rear boats, when we set off in order of battle and kept our- 
selves prepared for action that day and night without further acci- 
dent. We had about forty armed men in the different boats. 

In closing this letter, he adds : — 

The Indians have not yet arrived. We had a letter a few days 
since from them on the way and hope the treaty will end the next 
month. I am very happy with my colleagues, Generals Clarke and 
Butler, who are here. I hope to see you in the month of March. At 
present I think we shall return by Orleans, but this is uncertain. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 477 

but I shall urge it, as I wish to be able to give every information 
to the Line of the Army which they want of this country, in which 
they ought to find their homes. 

On Sunday, November the 13th, General Parsons arrived 
safely at the mouth of the Miami, where he was formally received 
by his fellow Commissioners and produced his commission from 
Congress appointing him one of the Commissioners of Indian 
Affairs. The preparations for the treaty he found well 
advanced, the four blockhouses of Fort Finney and several dwell- 
ings having been nearly completed, and a storehouse built and 
already sheltering the goods brought down from Fort Pitt. 

While awaiting the arrival of the Lidians, the Commissioners 
explored the surrounding country, visiting a canebrake down the 
river, searching for the remains of an Indian fort on the 
opposite shore and examining the place selected for a camp for 
the expected Indians. Major Finne3^'s house being completed, 
he invited them to a house-warming and dance and a week later 
dined and wined them and their officers. At the request of his 
colleagues, Parsons drew up the regulations to be observed during 
the treaty. On the 28th, a complimentary visit was made by 
the Wyandots and Delawares, who had been the first to arrive at 
the Council. They were received in due forai with a salute, and 
after the little etiquette of reception had been observed, such as 
serving them with pipes, tobacco and a dram all around. General 
Parsons arose and welcomed them in a brief address, as follows : — 

We are glad to see you the first at the Council Fire of the 
United States. It is a proof of your good intentions and determi- 
nation to hold fast that chain of friendship which binds the United 
States and you together. We are glad to find by the reports of our 
messengers, that you have given both advice and assistance to bring 
the other western tribes of Indians to the same way of thinking with 
yourselves. We hope it will be effectual, and that they will listen 
to the voice of proffered peace and consult their future interest. We 
advise you as brothers to continue your endeavors in the good work. 
We are pleased to see the Shawanese and expect they will return 
to their people convinced of the falsehoods which have been propa- 
gated amongst them by persons who are enemies to them and to the 
United States, and that they now see that the United States are ready 



478 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

to grant them peace, and have opened their arms to receive them into 
their protection. 

The address ended, the Commissioners retired, having first 
ordered additional refreshments, which the Indians took to their 
encampment to drink. 

The Shawanese not having as yet responded to the call to the 
treaty, another effort was now made to induce them to come in. 
Word was sent out by runners that the Commissioners would wait 
fifteen days for their determination, and even longer if assured 
they were on the way, but in case of refusal, they must blame 
themselves alone for future consequences. While waiting for 
the decision of the Indians, the Commissioners employed the 
interim in visiting the Falls of the Ohio. They left the Miami 
December 5, and returned the 15th. It was on this trip that 
Parsons saw the curious petrifications he describes in a letter to 
President Willard of Harvard College, a reprint of which closes 
this chapter. 

On the 3d, General Parsons wrote Mr. Johnson as to matters 
of public interest lately brought to his attention : — 

Fort Finney at the Miami, December 3d, 1785. 

Dear Sir. — In my last to you I enclosed a crude, undigested plan 
for securing and making the best public advantage of this country, 
on which subject I will converse when I see you. At present I will 
only say, I am convinced the present plan of Congress is not only 
impracticable, but is in its operation so slow that it will defeat itself. 

These some days we have been taken up with attention to some 
of the Shawanese, who are a haughty, proud race of beings who 
call themselves the " Heart of Mankind," but who, I think may be 
managed advantageously in their own way. These fellows do not 
own a foot of land in the world, but have the address with their few 
numbers, not exceeding three hundred, to become the key by which 
the door to the other nations is opened or shut. They have turned 
back the other nations who were on their way to the treaty. This 
morning they set off for their town to bring in their nation and to 
call back those who had returned. I am deceived greatly if they 
do not use every exertion to bring in their people. We refuse to 
hold any treaty with them unless their nation is all convened, and 
have agreed to wait fourteen days and no longer. They have gone 
back with very good impressions. 






GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 479 

There are some things you ought to know respecting this country. 
Here Congress places its expectations for paying the National Debt, 
and I have not a doubt it is an ample fund for the purpose if that 
attention is paid to it which the importance of the object requires; 
but should this be omitted, I need not be a prophet to assure you the 
United States will never be one farthing benefitted by these lands. 
The population of the country on the east of the Ohio, their views 
and conduct, you have no conception of; and I wish those views 
may not be extended further than the present settlers. I find from 
Mississippi to Virginia, from North to South, agents are employed 
for defeating the benefit the United States expect from these lands. 

I am now, (the 7th of December) at the Falls of the Ohio, where 
we have come to pass away the time to the 1 5th, when we have every 
reason to expect the Nations of Indians at the Miami, where they 
have been prevented attending by British emissaries and our own, 
who are the worse of the two. I had another reason for coming here, 
viz : to give the people of this country an opportunity of laying their 
sentiments, as well as distresses, before the Commissioners, and to 
examine as well as I am able, the foundation of their grievances and 
their complaints of the conduct of the Indians. On these subjects 
I am convinced, but do not wish to trust my opinion in a letter the 
route this might take. I have, also, informed myself of the business 
of my other Commission, and am still of opinion that no time is yet 
lost in postponing that settlement. 

There at present seems a prospect of the Indians treating to our 
wishes, but 'tis uncertain. The western nations were on their way 
and were stopped by the Shawanese. These, in turn, have sent out 
to those and other nations to come in, and we have great reason to 
believe that nation will be in very generally next week. If nothing 
is heard from them in that time, we shall make our course home in 
the safest possible manner. I have taken the liberty to enclose my 
son's letter to your care for more reasons than one. I beg you to 
forward. 

I am &c., 
To Wm. Samuel Johnson, M. C. Saml. H. Parsons. 



The following letter is from General Parsons to his cliildren 
in Connecticut, and is one of a series of letters informing them 
from time to time of the incidents of his journey. Of this series, 
unfortunately, a few only have been preserved, and these mostly 
in such bad condition as to be unavailable : — 



480 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Fort Finney, mouth of Miami, January 7, 1786. 
My Children. — I wrote you last from the Falls the 10th of 
December. I returned to this place the ISth^ since which I have 
nothing of consequence to inform you, nor has there been any oppor- 
tunity to convey any letter to the settlements. I find the spirit of 
emigrating to this country begins to reach Connecticut. A short time 
since, one Ebenezer Smith of Chatham with his family, with two 
other Connecticut families, arrived at the settlements of Kentucky. 
It may be well for you to inform David Smith of Middle Haddam 
of the welfare of his brother, and also of another brother who is 
settled on the Mississippi about one hundred miles above the mouth 
of the river Ohio. The people come on very inconsiderately, for 
although no man has painted the goodness and advantages of that 
country in too high a point of light, at least in my opinion, yet the 
titles to the landed estate in Kentucky are so very uncertain, that 
the chance is at least three to one that a man who purchases there 
must defend his title by a law suit, the expense of which will ruin 
a new settler, even if he should succeed. This arises from the ex- 
cellence of the country. Real or supposed defects in making a good 
title has induced survey upon survey, in many instances as many as 
eight or nine, which may all be contested, a fruitful source of profits 
for lawyers, but poverty to the honest purchaser. After he has 
expended his all, he is left a beggar, perhaps with a right of recover- 
ing on his warranty, without means of pursuing it. The emigrations 
from my country have induced these remarks from me. I believe 
every man has some national attachments, else I can't assign a 
reason why I should feel a stronger inclination to prevent my own 
Countrymen involving themselves in trouble than the men of other 
States. I think I am under no great obligation to take this trouble 
from any special favors I have received in the State which gave me 
birth ; the unmerited abuse I have so liberally received from my own 
people, fully balances every honor their own opinions or their own 
interests have conferred upon me. But silence in this case would 
be criminal resentment. I therefore, wish you to make no secret of 
my opinion on this subject. If those who have views this way treat 
the opinion with neglect or contempt, it is what I have often ex- 
perienced without deserving it; and I shall have all the satisfaction 
I wish — a consciousness of having honestly warned my brethren to 
avoid an evil I have pointed out. If they want further evidence of 
the propriety of the assertion, no obligation lies on me to take any 
more trouble on the subject. The lands northwest of the Ohio are 
in every respect equal to those of Kentucky from which the River 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 481 

divides them. If any of my friends cannot wait until Congress opens 
its sales, there are 150,000 acres of land granted to General Clarke 
and his officers and soldiers, to which the title is unquestionable and 
where they may purchase with safety. This tract begins on the 
River Ohio about eighteen miles above the Falls and extends twenty- 
four miles on the River and back from the River so as to make that 
quantity of land. Any person applying to General Clarke at the 
Falls, will be informed with truth and certainty as to whatever he 
wishes to know on the subject, and from whose honor and friendli- 
ness he will find himself saved from many evils he will fall into 
among the land jobbers of Kentucky. The grant to General Clarke 
and his officers and soldiers, goes under the name of the Illinois 
Grant, and is in many respects as valuable tract of land as any in 
these Waters, and has this great advantage above the lands of Ken- 
tucky, that the title is undisputed. 

When I say the lands northwest of the Ohio are as good as those 
of Kentucky, I would be understood as saying that I believe there 
is as much good land as in Kentucky, but not lying in one tract. 
The best lands in that country are in a valley or glade beginning 
near Limestone, about eighteen miles below the Scioto and extend- 
ing in a curvilinear direction to the Falls, about one hundred and 
fifty by fifty miles. The whole of this great tract is excellent land. 
As much land every way equal to that may be found on this title 
between Limestone and the Falls, extending as far into the country 
west from the River as Kentucky does east, but not as great a 
quantity in one body. 

The Indians have not come in and I believe there is no prospect 
of a general attendance. We are perplexed about the mode of getting 
away from this Garrison. The distance to New Orleans is nearly 
sixteen hundred miles and the passage from thence uncertain. To 
go through the wilderness is three hundred miles and we have no 
horses. To return to Fort Pitt, five hundred and fifty miles against 
the stream and driving ice, is also attended with difficulties. I don't 
know what course we shall take, but believe the last the fore- 
part of February, when the River will be less difficult and the season 
so far advanced as to render the road less dangerous from the 
enemy. 

I wish you a happy New Year. If wisdom, prudence, morality, 
religion and industry should increase in you with your accumulated 
years, it would be happy indeed. Your mother's welfare is much 
in my thoughts. My affectionate remembrance of her you will com- 
municate to her. Tell Lucia, Esther and all the children nothing 



482 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

would more increase my happiness in this world than once more to 
see them. For me, 'tis of little consequence what my lot is in the 
few remaining days I have in this world. 

Yours affectionately, 
> Saml. H. Parsons. 

January 7, 1786. 

P. S. — At last we find the Indians are about to attend us. Nearly 
five hundred are here and near us and other nations are on their 
way. Perhaps we may have one thousand of different tribes. This 
I fear will keep us till March, which will make me as late home as 
about the 10th or 15th of April. If we conclude the treaty to our 
satisfaction, I think we shall go through the Indian towns to Fort 
Pitt, which will give me a further opportunity of seeing the country. 

My love to your mother and the family. We send an express to 
Fort Pitt to-morrow and this goes to be forwarded. 

The task before the Commissioners was to persuade the Shaw- 
anese to surrender peaceably the lands occupied by them in that 
part of the Northwest Territory, and accept the protection of 
the United States. By the treaty of Fort Stanwix (October 
22d, 1784), the Iroquois, who claimed the country as conquerors, 
had relinquished all their rights to the lands northwest of the 
Ohio. By the treaty of Fort Mcintosh (January 21, 1785), 
the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa and Ottawa nations had 
acknowledged the sovereignty of the United States, and ceded 
to it all the lands claimed by them except the land included within 
a boundary line beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River 
and extending with the course of the River to the portage between 
that and the Tuscarawas ; thence down that stream to the cross- 
ing place above Fort Lawrence; thence westwardly to the port- 
age of the Great Miami ; thence along the portage to the 
Maumee River and down that River to Lake Erie ; and thence 
along the south shore of the Lake to the mouth of the Cuyahoga. 
This reservation may be roughly described as the tract between 
Cleveland and Toledo extended southerly about sixty miles. But 
the Shawanese proved far less pliable than the other tribes. They 
objected most strenuously to the advance of the white man beyond 
the Ohio, and were reluctant to enter into any treaty surrender- 
ing their lands and acknowledging the supremacy of the United 
States. Persuaded at last, largely through the friendly inter- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 483 

cession of the Wyandots and Delawares, the Chiefs conferred 
with the Commissioners and agreed upon the terms of a treaty 
to be submitted to the General Council, the articles of which, 
at the request of his colleagues. General Parsons drew up in due 
form. 

On Monday, the 30th of January, 1786, a General Council 
was held in the Council-House at which were present the Chiefs 
and Warriors of the Shawanese, their women and children, with 
their friends, the Wyandots and Delawares, to consider the 
terms of the proposed treaty. The Commissioners, General Par- 
sons, who drafted the treaty acting as their spokesman, made a 
brief address and read the several articles of the treaty. The 
address, a copy of which, in his own handwriting, is among the 
General's papers, is as follows : — 

Chiefs and Warriors of the Shawanese: 

We have attentively considered everything you said to us yester- 
day. We are happy to find you disposed to join with us in measures 
to stop the fui'ther effusion of human blood, and to hear your pro- 
fessions of sincerity in earnestly desiring a restoration of peace 
between the United States and your nation. We know the great 
God above sees what we are about and knows our thoughts, and will 
punish you or us if what we speak with our lips does not come from 
our hearts. It gives us great pleasure to hear you have at length 
opened your eyes to your true interest, and are determined not to 
listen to evil counsel in future. 

You told us you had brought three prisoners with you whom you 
had taken from us, and would take them back to your towns that 
all the rest of our flesh and blood might be collected, and all brought 
in together. This is not in any degree satisfactory to us. We do 
not see a necessity of these three prisoners returning to your towns, 
but they must be delivered to us and effectual measures taken im- 
mediately to restore to us all others who have been taken away by 
your nation in the late war. 

Having already stated to you fully your own situation in regard 
to the United States, it remains for us to inform you of the terms 
on which peace will be granted to you, and your nation received into 
the friendship and protection of the United States. 

General Butler, in his journal of the events of the treaty, has 
so amplified and elaborated this address as to render it almost 



484 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

unrecognizable, and all he says of it is, that the Commissioners 
made it. Aside from the address being among the Parsons 
papers, there can be no question as to Parsons having delivered 
it, for Clarke took no part in the discussion, and Butler never 
took part without plainly stating that he did so. The follow- 
ing are the articles of the treaty: — 

1. Three hostages shall be immediately delivered to the Commis- 
sioners by the Shawanese^ to remain in the possession of the United 
States until all the prisoners, white and black, citizens of the United 
States, who were taken by the Shawanese nation or any of them or 
any other Indians residing in their towns, shall be restored. 

2. The Shawanese acknowledge the United States to be the sole 
and absolute sovereign of all the territory ceded to them by the 
King of Great Britain by the treaty of peace made between Great 
Britain and the United States, the Shawanese to be under their pro- 
tection. 

3. If any Indian or Indians of the Shawanese nation, or any other 
Indian residing in any of their towns shall commit murder, or 
robbery, or do any other injury to any of the citizens of the United 
States, the nation shall be obliged to deliver such offender or 
offenders up to the officer commanding the nearest Post of the United 
States, to be punished according to the ordinances of Congress ; in 
like manner, any citizen of the United States who shall commit 
murder, or robbery, or do any other jnjury to any Indian or Indians 
of the Shawanese nation, or any other Indian living in any of their 
towns under their protection, shall be punished by the laws of the 
United States, or of the State to which such offending citizen belongs. 

4. The Shawanese having knowledge that any nation or body of 
Indians designs to make war on the citizens of the United States, 
or of their counseling together for that purpose, shall immediately 
inform the Commanding Officer of the nearest Post of the United 
States, thereof; or in default thereof shall be considered as parties 
in such war and punished accordingly. The United States assumes 
the corresponding obligation. 

5. Upon the Shawanese nation agreeing to these articles the 
United States do grant peace to that nation and receive them into 
their friendship and protection. 

6. The United States do allow to the Shawanese nation lands 
within their territory to live and hunt upon, the east, west and south 
boundaries of which are as follows: — commencing at the southeast 
corner of the tract reserved to the Wyandots and Delawares by the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 485 

treaty of Fort Mcintosh; running thence down the Great Miami to 
the forks of that River next below the old Fort which was taken by 
the French in 1752; thence due west to the River de le Pause; thence 
down that River to the Wabash and down the Wabash to the Ohio, 
beyond which lines none of the citizens of the United States shall 
settle or disturb the Shawanese in their settlement and possession. 
And the Shawanese do hereby relinquish to the United States all 
title or pretence of title they ever had to the lands east, west and 
south of said lines. 

7. Any citizen settling on the lands so allowed to the Shawanese, 
is out of the protection of the United States. 

The terms of the treaty were discussed with much warmth and 
spirit on both sides, the Indians asking modifications, particularly 
of the boundaries, which the Commissioners would not agree to. 
No conclusions having been reached, the Council was continued 
the next day and the treaty further explained, but it was not 
until the Commissioners in plain terms presented the alternative 
of cession or war, that the Shawanese chose the former, as had 
the other tribes. It being late, and the Chiefs observing that 
it was not customary with them to do business in the latter part 
of the day, the treaty, although agreed to on the 31st, was not 
signed until February 1. Eight Chiefs signed in behalf of 
the Shawanese, the only nation participating in the treaty, and 
the Commissioners in behalf of the United States. The num- 
ber of Indians present at the treaty, including men, women and 
children, by actual count on the 2d, was four hundred and forty- 
eight, of whom three hundred and eighteen were Shawanese. 
The territory ceded by this treaty includes the city of Cincinnati 
and a large part of the State of Indiana. By way of celebrat- 
ing the treaty, the Indians, all the following day, continued 
drinking, but on the 3d and 4th were so far recovered as to be 
able to receive their presents and prepare for returning to their 
towns. Parsons was right when, on his way to the treaty, he 
wrote j\Ir. Johnson from Fort Pitt, " I do not believe all the 
treaties we can make will be of any utility whilst the Posts on 
the Western Waters are in the hands of the British troops," for 
it was not long before the Shawanese repudiated the terms of 
the treaty they had agreed to in apparent good faith. 

Captain Jonathan Heart, who writes the following letter to 



486 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth of Hartford, was a graduate of 
Yale in 1768, served through the war in the Connecticut Divi- 
sion and for a time was Brigade Major of the First Connecticut 
Brigade. In April, 1785, he came to Ohio as Captain in Colonel 
Harmar's First Infantry, a regiment of regulars raised especi- 
ally for sei-vice in the West, and at this time was stationed at 
Fort Harmar at the mouth of the Muskingum. In 1791, he 
was made Major in the Second Infantry, a new regiment just 
raised, and was with St. Clair in November of that year, when he 
suffered his disastrous defeat on the banks of the Wabash, and 
was killed while leading a charge against the Indians : — 

Fort Harmar, January 22d, 1785. 

Sir. — In any other situation I would not have taken this freedom 
with your name, but at this distance from my connections, a letter 
directed to a common citizen would scarcely find the Country, much 
less the person, to whom directed. I have, therefore, presumed to 
request a communication through a more conspicuous character, and, 
as it respects a most valuable friend to the happiness of America, 
I may with propriety use the freedom. 

Major General Parsons has been pleased to honor me with a letter 
of the 9th instant, received this day by a Delaware Chief. General 
Parsons requests me, as opportunity may present, to give informa- 
tion to his friends. He passed this Post the 7th, and arrived at the 
Miami the 13th of November. On the passage, he was fired upon 
by a party of Cherokees, but without injury. Cherokee is a name 
like Refugee, and includes the banditti of all Tribes and friends of 
none. Equally enemies to Americans, Britons and Indians, they 
are determined to make no peace, but happily their numbers are in- 
considerable. The treaty was not entered upon the Qth instant, as 
every exertion had been, and was still making by British Emissaries 
and others opposed to a peace to prevent the Indians from coming 
to the treaty; he says, however, a number of tribes have already 
arrived, many others near, and every favorable appearance that the 
western tribes will generally come in, and he can see no reason why 
a peace may not be made with them agreeable to our wishes. 

He has been as low as the Falls of the Ohio and is delighted with 
the country; indeed, the richness of soil, agreeableness of situation 
and extent of valuable territory ceded to the United States by the 
late treaty, is scarcely conceivable; and to obtain a peaceable posses- 
sion of this soil for the purpose of sinking our national debt and 
opening a field for European as well as American emigrants, are 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 487 

objects generally considered of importance. No country was ever 
yet discovered better calculated for industrious farmers than the 
lands on the Ohio — rich soil, good timber, temperate summers and 
mild winters — and as to the future advantages of trade, the water 
communications, as delineated on the maps, sufficiently point out. 

I cannot do justice to the country by description. General Par- 
sons is so much delighted with it, he earnestly recommends it to our 
eastern inhabitants to turn the course of their emigration from the 
mountains of Vermont to this most delightful country. He will 
probably return about the last of April; and here I cannot help 
observing, that in the situation the Indians were left at the close of 
the war under British influences, their emissaries at all times with 
them, a better man than General Parsons could not have been sent 
out to unravel their intrigues, counteract their disguised policies, 
and by a fair, open and honest treatment, lead the uncivilized nations 
to a friendly treaty; and if we have peace, he has made it. Please, 
Sir, acquaint his more intimate connections of his situation. 

I have the honor to be &c., 
To Colonel Wadsworth, Hartford. Jonathan Heart. 

The two following letters relate to the settlement of the 
Virginia accounts and the selection of an additional Com- 
missioner : — 

New York, June 12th, 1786. 

Sir. — Upon receipt of your letter, I applied to Colonel Pickering, 
requesting him to accept the trust you proposed to him, but he again 
declines. I then wrote to General Lincoln on the same subject and 
have the pleasure to inform you that he agrees to undertake with us 
the settlement of those accounts as soon as he shall return from the 
eastern part of Massachusetts, which he informs will be early in 
July. I am of the opinion it will be necessary to agree upon certain 
principles conformable to which the accounts should be made out; 
these being settled, the accounts and arranging the evidence to sup- 
port the charges is merely a mechanical part of the business, as well 
executed by our clerks under the inspection of one of the Comis- 
sioners, as by ourselves. I therefore propose that you meet General 
Lincoln and myself in this city the last week in July, when every 
question necessary to be decided previous to shaping the accounts 
may be determined, and the accounts being prepared agreeable to 
such determination, will be very readily closed in a short time. I 
am inclined to make this proposition, as the season of the year is 
such as will induce vou to come to the northward, and we should with 



488 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

reluctance consent to go to Virginia until the season should be 
further advanced; and should we be so fortunate as to agree on the 
mode of arranging the accounts and the principles on which they are 
to be adjusted, much time will be saved in the settlement. 

I wish. Sir, your answer as soon as possible, directed to me at 
MMdIetown in Connecticut, that I may be able to inform General 
Lincoln of your intention on this subject. 

I am &c.. 
To Colonel Heth. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Boston, August 16, 1786. 

Sir. — Your letter of August 4th, directed to my father, General 
Lincoln, came to hand a few days after he sailed from this place to 
the Penobscot on a commission from this Government, among other 
things, to treat with a tribe of Indians there. Supposing that a 
reply to his letter of May 13th would arrive in his absence, he re- 
quested me to open it, and to write to you that as you had not said 
anything further relative to the subject of your letter and his reply 
in May last, he supposed the Commission was at an end and accord- 
ingly felt himself at liberty to accept the appointment which I 
have mentioned. He expects to return in about two months and will 
then, if requested, attend the trust you have been pleased to repose 
in him. 

From the knowledge I have of my father's engagements, I am 
confident that the month of November will be convenient for his 
attendance. And as to the pecuniary part, I know that he has no 
money to spare for expenses in public business, and that he has 
labored too long already without pay, other than the important en- 
gagements of the public, further to be deluded by them. Your senti- 
ments on these points will, I venture to say, be perfectly in unison. 
I have the honor to be. Sir, with great respect 

Your most humble servant. 
To Saml. H. Parsons. Benj. Lincoln, Jr. 

The following is from General Parsons to Mr. Johnson : — 

MiDDLETowN, October 8, 1786. 

Dear Sir. — Superstition, which you will say has the least place in 
my character, with my present indisposition, keeps me here. 

I proceeded as far as Fairfield last Friday on my way to New 
York ; between Stratford and Fairfield, the horses were taken sick, 
the stage broke down, the driver was ill natured and I broke my 
walking stick, and on Saturday returned home where I am at present 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 489 

confined by a violent cold ; however, I hope to be able to make another 
attempt to-morrow or Wednesday. I hear General St. Clair is my 
rival about the Western Country ; if so, I am willing to accept the 
office of Chief Justice if I can obtain it, provided he succeeds in the 
other. I will do this only on that condition, as I know of no other 
man with whom I should be willing to go in a subordinate character 
who is likely to be appointed. That Country is my object; I hope to 
be with you this week. Mr. Mitchell thinks it not necessary to send 
a committee from Congress to your Assembly, as nothing will be done 
under the present factious state of our Government; but all your 
friends join in ardent wishes that you and Mr. Sturges will be in 
the Assembly next week. 

I am. Dear Sir, &c.. 
To William Samuel Johnson. Saml. H. Parsons. 

P. S. — The Massachusetts mob have prevented the Supreme Court 
in Berkshire. 

The Commissioners, immediately after the conclusion of the 
treaty at Fort Finney, commenced preparations for their home- 
ward journey. As the route by Fort Pitt was the only prac- 
ticable one at that season of the year, they returned that way, 
Generals Parsons and Butler reaching Fort McLitosh, March 
12, 1786. General Parsons, during his absence upon the busi- 
ness of the treaty, noted everything new or strange which came 
under his observation. The accounts of his discoveries which 
got abroad, attracted much attention, but were so incorrectly 
reported, that, in the following October, in a letter to President 
Willard of Harvard College, he gave a particular description 
of them for the information of the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences. This letter appears in full in the Memoirs of the 
Academy for 1793. (Vol. XL Part 1, p, 119.) The plan of 
an ancient fortress mentioned in this letter, General Parsons had 
sent to President Stiles of Yale College, who, upon receiving it, 
had enclosed it to Benjamin Franklin and written him asking 
his opinion as to the Indian Mounds described in Parsons' com- 
munication. The letter as published in the Memoirs, is as 
follows : — 

MiDDLETowN IN CONNECTICUT, October 2d, 1786. 
Sir. — The frequent publications I have lately seen of accounts 
said to have been given by me of my discoveries in the Western 



490 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



country, many of them misrepresentations and some of them totally 
without foundation, induces me to execute a purpose I had long 
since entertained of communicating to the Society for promoting 
Arts and Sciences in your State such observations as occurred to me 
in my journey into that country and the discoveries there made. 

It appears to me of consequence that information of facts which 
may tend to throw light upon any inquiries in the natural world, 
should be given to some literary Society where all facts and observa- 
itons being carefully compared, our reasoning on the subject may be 
with more certainty, and old principles confirmed or new hypotheses 
established with more accuracy. 

I left the settled parts of Pennsylvania the latter part of October 
last, and, not to mention the large limestone springs frequently to 
be found in the County of Cumberland sufficient to turn mills within 
a few rods of their issuing from the ground and other curiosities I 
never saw before, about the 25th of that month I passed the Alle- 
ghany Mountains in the old Pennsylvania road. The ascent of about 
three miles is gradual and easy. On the summit is a large extent of 
land comparatively plain. It is about eight miles from the top of the 
mountain on the east to the beginning of the descent on the west; 
whence to the level on that side is about eight miles and a half. This 
extent contains almost all soils and descriptions of land; from the 
sandy pitch pine barrens and stony heath, where there is no apparent 
moisture, to as fine plough-land and luxuriant pasture and mowing 
as I had before seen. On the mount are several mill streams and 
springs of excellent water. It is observable that the ascent of all 
those hills and mountains from the east, is greater than the descent 
on the west; and from the extensive grand view on the top of the 
mount, from which the country on the west and on the east is seen 
to a great distance, it is clearly discovered that the level of the 
country on the west is vastly higher than the level on the east of the 
mountains. I had no instruments to determine the difference of 
these levels, but the fact is easily discerned by the eye. In travelling 
to this place, I observed the stones were pitched in the earth inclining 
to the horizon in angles of .thirty to forty degrees (very few if any 
lay horizontally) and in a general direction from the northeast to 
the southwest, which is a circumstance I do not remember to have 
found on the west of that ridge of mountains. ^ 

I arrived at Pittsburgh the 30th, three hundred and twenty miles 
from Philadelphia. This is a place conveniently situated for carry- 
ing on the interior commerce of that country. It stands on a point 
at the conjunction of the Alleghany river (which extends about two 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 491 

hundred miles northeast from that place) and the Monongahela, 
which in its meanders waters a country southeastward about three 
hundred miles. From this point begins the Ohio, which after run- 
ning in its serpentine course more than eleven hundred and eighty 
miles and receiving in its progress many large rivers from the east 
and from the west, falls into the Mississippi in about latitude thirty- 
six degrees and forty minutes. At Bedford on my road to this place, 
I was informed by Col. Wood of many curious discoveries lately 
made in the West country, among others, that in digging a cellar 
at a place called Wheeling, ninety-seven miles down the Ohio, at 
several feet depth in the earth, was discovered a stone wall laid in 
lime. I arrived at Wheeling the 3d November and made strict in- 
quiry into this account, and was informed by Mr. Zanes, an intelli- 
gent, sensible man and and one of the legislature of Virginia, that 
in digging for a cellar not far from that place, had been discovered 
a wall some feet under the earth very regularly laid up, apparently 
the work of art; but he knew nothing of the circumstance related of 
its being cemented in lime. From this on the fourth, I went to Grave 
Creek, twelve miles down the river. Here is a mound of earth, 
plainly the work of men's hands, called an Indian grave. It is of a 
conical form, in height about eighty feet. It ascends in an angle 
of about forty-five degrees. The diameter at the top is about 
sixty feet, the margin enclosing a regular concave, sunk about 
four feet in the center. Near the top stands an oak about three 
feet in diameter. I did not open this grave, but proceeded down the 
river about sixty miles to the mouth of the Muskingum; near this 
river are the remains of an ancient fortress, a plan of which I find 
has been transmitted to you by President Stiles. As this is the same 
I furnished him, it will be needless to attempt a more particular 
description of it. On the ruins of this Work has grown a white oak, 
now more than three feet in diameter, which has an appearance of 
having sprung from the decays of a tree in the same place. This, 
however, is conjectural, there not being so great evidence as to render 
the fact certain. 

After two days spent here, I proceeded on my journey about three 
hundred and eighty miles without any extraordinary discoveries, to 
the great Miami. At the great Kanawha and sundry other places, 
we found Indian graves similar to, but not so large as, that at Grave 
Creek. Finding that the bones of a large animal had been discovered 
about thirty-two miles from the station, curiosity led me to make 
search for them. Accordingly an excursion was made to the Big- 
Bone-Lick, the place where these bones were found. This place is 



492 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

a resort of all species of beasts in that country. A stream of brack- 
ish water runs through the land^ which is a soft clay. About twenty 
acres are almost clear of trees and are surrounded by higher lands. 
At this place were found, some on the surface and some at the depth 
of four feet and more in the ground, the bones of the animal. An 
entire skeleton we did not find, but of different parts we brought off 
about four hundred pounds. A thigh bone entire measured forty- 
nine inches in length. Parts of several jaw bones were found, but 
not an entire one. Some teeth were found in and some out of the 
jaw, one of which I herewith send you. Part of a tusk we also had; 
two of the teeth I brought home; one, the corresponding tooth of 
the upper jaw, is at Yale College; the other bones we boxed and left 
at Pittsburgh. Of this animal the natives have no tradition but that 
which is so fabulous that no conjecture can be aided by it, unless it 
be that the animal was a carnivorous one. It is observable that the 
bones of this animal are only found near salt licks and in low, soft 
grounds. 

In my progress further down the Ohio to the Rapids, nothing 
occurred worth communicating to your Society, unless the petrifica- 
tions at the Rapids, and in sundry other places near the river, may 
be an object of attention. That elementary water does not possess 
this quality, I suppose to be an opinion too clear to admit of objec- 
tion. The greatest quantity of petrifications I saw were at the Falls. 
I saw these when the water was low and the flat stones which ex- 
tended across the river and over which the waters generally flow, 
were bare on both sides the river as much as one-fifth of a mile on 
each side. On the southeast side I observed no petrifications ; on the 
northwest side they were in great plenty of almost every kind of 
vegetable production and in every stage of the process, from their 
native state to a perfect stone. Hornet's and bird's nests, nuts, roots, 
branches of trees, leaves, bones, &c. &c. were in great abundance. 
They appear at first by accident to be left resting on the stones, and 
the water exuding from the adj oining bank falls gently on the stones 
and glides almost imperceptibly over them, and bringing with it 
some adhesive quality which slightly fixes the resting body to the 
stone on which it lies, and an external incrustation is first formed 
around the body; whence the petrification is continued till the whole 
body becomes a perfect stone, retaining fully its original shape. It 
is evident that the stone on which these petrified vegetables are 
formed, is also a vegetable, and grows about the resting body, until 
in some instances the stone perfectly covers it. We were obliged, 
in many instances to make use of picks to break the stone or rock 



I 



I 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 493 

to a depth of several inches, to sever the petrified body from it. 
Whether the matter possessing this petrifying quality is known, or 
can be discovered and separated from other earth so as to become 
useful as a cement or otherwise, I will not pretend to assert. 

In this country I was informed that pieces of earthern ware, the 
common utensils of a family, are often dug out of the earth some feet 
under the surface; and at Muskingum in digging the trenches for 
their pickets, a number of pieces and one entire brick were found 
buried two or three feet deep. Not thinking it proper to open the 
mounds of earth supposed to contain the bones of the dead whilst 
the Indians were in treaty with us, I desired the Commanding Officer 
to open them at the Miami after the Indians had gone; and also 
left the same request at Muskingum with an officer of learning and 
great curiosity in his observations in the natural world; and to in- 
form me of their discoveries, extracts of whose letters I herewith 
send you. The Indians have no tradition what nation ever buried 
their dead in the manner we discovered there. The trees on the In- 
dian graves and on ancient fortifications (of which there are great 
numbers in that country) appear to be coeval with the adjoining 
forests. On the whole, I am of opinion that country has been thickly 
peopled by men to whom the necessary arts were known in a much 
greater degree than to the present native Indians of that region ; 
but I am transgressing my own system and will return to facts only 
and let others form hypotheses. Among the Indian nations in gen- 
eral, I find an appearance of a radical similarity in language, but 
this is not universally true; the Huron or Wyandot language having 
no affinity to that of the Shawanese, Delawares and other nations. I 
do not remember to have heard a single word in that language which 
has the least affinity in sound with the words in other languages 
expressive of the same idea. A few examples follow: 





Shawanese. 


Delaware. 


Wyandot. 


Bear. 


Mau-quah. 


Mough. 


Un-yew-ech. 


Water. 


Nip-peh. 


Beh. 


San-doos-tea. 


Smoke. 


Mon-na-too. 


Au-kook. 


Kun-gun-fee. 


Deer. 


Seck-thee. 


Au-took. 


She-nun-took 


Nose. 


0-chau-fee. 


We-ke-un. 


A-youh-joh. 


Eye. 


Ske-fa-coo. 


Wus-kingd. 


Yau-pe-dah. 



Among the tribes there are as characteristic distinctions in fea- 
ture, size and complexion as between the French, Dutch, English 
and other European nations, and no small difference in their man- 
ners and habits. The Shawanese are generally of a small size, 



494 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

rather elegant in their features and a very cheerful and crafty 
people. Counseling among their old people and dancing among 
their young men and women takes up a great part of their time. 
The Delawares, on the contrary are a stout, robust people, have 
little of the vivacity of the Shawanese, and are more grave in their 
manners. They all agree in a firm belief of a Supreme Good Spirit, 
and also in the existence of evil spirits; one, the author of all good 
and the other the cause of all evil, and also in a state of future 
existence. 

I could not satisfy myself that there was among them any set 
worship paid to the Deity, except in some nations once, and in 
others twice, in a year, a national feast was provided to which each 
tribe is convened; and the Chief, before they eat, makes a speech 
to them in which the duties they owe to the Supreme Being and to 
one another are explained; at the close of their repast he exhorts 
them to the practice of their duties, and the whole is ended with a 
solemn dance. 

The customs prevailing in some of the tribes bear an affinity to 
the customs prevailing among the Jews (perhaps the same or nearly, 
might have been practiced in early times by other eastern nations.) 
Women in travail are removed from the residence of the family to 
a hut provided at a distance; when delivered, their food is carried 
to them and deposited near their door for a number of days. The 
particular number I find I have not entered in my journal. After 
a certain number of days are ended, (during which the wife is ex- 
cluded from society) she returns home with her infant and at the 
end of forty-five days is covered under the same blanket with her 
husband. 

A woman, when her courses are upon her, maintains a silence, 
touches none of the family, eats by herself and retires. 

Divorces are voluntary. Either party puJts away and takes 
another mate at pleasure; but until the husband or wife is put away, 
adultery is considered a high crime. Among the Ottawas, it is pun- 
ished by biting off the nose of the woman. The children, on a 
divorce, are divided; among some nations, if the number is uneven, 
the mother takes the greater part. 

If any useful inquiries can be aided by anything I have trans- 
mitted to you, my intentions will have been fully answered. 
I am, Sir, with greatest respect. 

Your obedient servant, 

Saml. H. Parsons. 
To President Willard, Harvard College. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

The Ohio Company. Parsons Presents Memorial to Congress 
FOR Purchase of Lands in Ohio. Bill Authorizing Sale to 
Company. Ordinance of 1787. Organization of the North- 
west Territory. Parsons Appointed Chief Judge. Ratifica- 
tion OF THE Federal Constitution and Organization of the 
Government. 

January, 1786 — April, 1789 

" The early adventurers of the Northwestern Territory," says 
Judge Burnett in his Notes on that Territory, " were generally 
men who had spent the prime of their lives in the War of Inde- 
pendence. Many of them had exhausted their fortunes in main- 
taining the desperate struggle, and retired to the wilderness to 
conceal their poverty and avoid comparisons mortifying to their 
pride while struggling to maintain their families and improve 
their condition." Their attention was first directed to Ohio, not 
only on account of its fertile soil, its mild and healthy climate 
and its proximity to the settlements, but because, the Indian 
titles to Southern Ohio and all Ohio to the east of the Cuyahoga 
having been extinguished, and the country not being claimed 
by any particular State of the Union, Congress was in position 
to grant the land, cither in exchange for the dishonored pay- 
certificates of the soldiers, or in fulfillment of engagements made 
with the officers and soldiers who should continue in service until 
the establishment of peace. On the 16th of June, 1783, two 
hundred and eighty-eight officers in the Continental Line peti- 
tioned Congress to mark out a territory within the present limits 
of Ohio, to be in time admitted as one of the " Confederated 
States of America," and to make provision for the survey of the 
land with reference to its use in payment of soldiers' claims and 
its sale to actual settlers. This petition was placed in Washing- 
ton's hands by General Rufus Putnam, who transmitted it to 
Congress with a letter strongly commending the plan as promis- 

495 



496 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

ing not only great advantages to the settlers but to the country 
as well. 

Congress having failed to act upon this petition, the scheme 
for the settlement of Ohio assumed another form. It was pro- 
posed by Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper in January 
1786, that an association be formed, to be named " The Ohio 
Company," the design of which should be to raise a fund in Con- 
tinental Certificates with which to purchase lands of the United 
States in its Western Territory, for the benefit of the Company, 
thus enabling the Revolutionary Soldiers of New England to 
convert their pay-certificates into land. A meeting of the pro- 
moters of the plan was called at the " Bunch of Grapes 
Tavern " in Boston, at which it was determined to organize the 
proposed Company. The capital stock was to be one million 
dollars, divided into one thousand shares of the par value of one 
thousand dollars each, the price per share to subscribers to be, 
one thousand dollars in Continental Certificates, and ten dollars 
in coin to defray the expenses of the Company. Subscriptions 
to the stock were solicited by the agents of the Association, and 
when at a special meeting held at Brackett's Tavern in Boston, 
on the 8th of March, 1787, it appeared that two hundred and 
fifty shares had been subscribed, and that many others were 
inclined to take stock, it was unanimously resolved, " that three 
directors should be appointed for the Company, and that it 
should be their duty to make application immediately to the 
Honorable Congress for a private purchase of lands, and under 
such descriptions as they shall deem adequate to the purposes of 
the Company." General Samuel H. Parsons, General Rufus 
Putnam and the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, were thereupon unani- 
mously chosen directors : 

In a letter to Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Company, 
Cutler says : — 

I entirely approve of the propositions which General Putnam 
suggests should be made to Congress, and join with him in request- 
ing General Parsons to make application to that Honorable Body 
as soon as possible. I have the fullest confidence that the negotia- 
tions will be conducted by him in a manner most advantageous to 
the Company. . . . Could the lands be immediately pur- 
chased, I have no doubt but that the subscriptions would go on 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 497 

rapidly in this part of the country. . . . With regard to the 
location of the land, General Parsons and General Putnam are the 
judges. 

In writing the same day to Nathan Dane, Delegate in Con- 
gress from Massachusetts, he says : — 

General Parsons will make application to Congress in the name 
of the other directors, in order to make the purchase for the Com- 
pany, and will propose terms which have been agreed on by the 
other directors. ... If the lands can be immediately pur- 
chased on the terms the Company propose, we have the fullest 
assurance that the subscription for one million dollars will be com- 
pleted in a short time. Many of the subscribers are men of very 
considerable property, who intend to become residents of that coun- 
try. The spirit of emigration never ran higher with us than at this 
time, owing in a great measure to the general stagnation of business. 
If they are disappointed in their expectation Westward, they will 
turn tlieir attention to some other quarter. 

General Parsons, having been notified of his election as one of 
the directors of the Ohio Company and of the wish of his fellow 
directors that he should make the application to Congress in 
their behalf, wrote to William Samuel Johnson, who was still 
in Congress, respecting the matter: — 

MiDDLETOWN, April 33, 1787. 
Dear Sir. — The Associated Ohio Company have so far accom- 
plished their scheme, as to direct an application to Congress for the 
purchase, and have invested me with full powers to negotiate for 
them, and to fix the price and make the location. Our subscriptions 
are about five hundred shares and I conceive will soon amount to 
the one thousand shares proposed. I have enclosed a plan which 
has suggested itself to me as being reasonable under all circum- 
stances. I wish, if you approve the proposal, that General Varnum, 
Mr. King, Colonel Carrington and the President may be consulted, 
with such others as you shall judge best to consult, before I come 
on, which will be the week after next. I shall depend on you and 
Mr. ]\Iitchel joining the Association when you think it expedient. 
I wish to know whether the petition, founded on the enclosed 
propositions, can probably be taken up at the time I have mentioned 
and your opinion of the success of it. I think the probability of 
losing that country if no measures are taken, the embarrassed state 



498 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

of our finances and the aid which may be expected from so large a 
sale at this time, will be inducements to comply with our proposals. 
We are in serious earnest and have our settlers now ready to march. 
I shall also be desirous, if it can be obtained, that Congress trans- 
port our settlers and furnish one years provision, for which con- 
sideration they will enlist for one year to serve in that country with- 
out pay or clothing. I wish you to communicate to Mr. Mitchel 
these proposals and I shall depend on his aid with you in prosecuting 
the matter. Wm. Wimble Esq. is Lieut. Governor. The Lord have 
mercy upon us and give us a full portion of patience. 

Yr. obedient servt., 
To the Hon. Wm. S. Johnson, M. C. Saml. H. Parsons. 

Early in May, General Parsons proceeded to New York where 
Congress was then in session. The Monroe plan of organizing 
the Northwest Territory was being considered, and on the 9th 
of May, 1787, had its second reading, after which it was ordered 
that it be engrossed and on the morrow be read a third time and 
put upon its passage. The same day that this Ordinance was 
under consideration, the 9th of May, General Parsons placed 
before Congress a memorial asking that " a tract of country 
within the Western Territory of the United States at some con- 
venient place, may be granted the Ohio Company at a reason- 
able price, upon its paying a sum not exceeding $1,000,000, 
nor less than $500,000, and that such of the Associators as, by 
the resolutions of Congress, are entitled to receive lands for their 
military services, may have their lands assigned to them within 
the aforesaid grant." In the language of Mr. Bancroft, " The 
plan interested everyone. For vague hopes of colonization, here 
stood a body of hardy pioneers ; ready to lead the way to the 
rapid absorption of the domestic debt of the United States ; 
selected from the choicest regiments of the army; capable of self 
defense ; the protectors of all who should follow them ; men 
skilled in the labors of the field and of artisans ; enterprising 
and laborious ; trained in the severe morality and strict ortho- 
doxy of the New England villages of that day — all was changed. 
There was the same difference as between sending out recruiting 
officers and giving marching orders to a regular corps present 
with music and arms and banners. On the instant, the memorial 
was referred to a committee, consisting of Edward Carrington, 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 499 

Rufus King, Nathan Dane, James Madison and Egbert Ben- 
son — a great committee ; its older members of Congress having 
worthy associates in Carrington and Benson, of whom nothing 
was spoken, but in praise of their faultless integrity and right- 
ness of intention." 

The following is the full text of the Memorial :— 

Memorial of the Ohio Company. 

It is proposed by Samuel H. Parsons, Rufus Putnam and Manas- 
seh Cutler, for themselves and associates, to purchase of the United 
States the under mentioned tract in the Western Territory of the 
United States, on the following conditions, viz : 

A certain tract of land in the Western Territory of the United 
States, bounded on the east by the western boundary of the seventh 
range of townships, on the south by the Ohio river, on the west by 
the river Scioto, and on the north by a due east and west line run 
from the northwest corner of the south township of the seventh 
range (reckoning from the Ohio) until it shall intersect the Scioto. 

1. The price to be three shillings and sixpence, lawful money, or 
one-twelfth of a dollar, per acre, payable in any of the securities 
of the United States. 

2. In payment for the lands, no interest shall be computed on the 
certificates paid in, provided that indents of interest, signed by the 
treasurer of the United States, shall be given to the purchasers 
for all arrearages of interest due on said certificates to the date of 
their payment, which indents shall be receivable in all the general 
requisitions, on which they may be paid in. 

3. The payments of the above purchase to be made in the follow- 
ing manner, viz : 

The first payment shall be within three months, computed from 
the date of this agreement, and shall amount to two hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. 

The second payment shall be when the survey of the above tract 
is made, and shall amount to four hundred thousand dollars. 

The remainder shall be paid in six equal instalments, at the ex- 
piration of every six months, computed from the date of the second 
payment. 

4. When the first payment is made, an instrument of writing shall 
be delivered to the purchasers, signed by the President of the 
United States in Congress, and sealed with their seal, declaring 
that the United States have sold to Samuel H. Parsons, Rufus Put- 
nam, Manasseh Cutler and their associates, for and in consideration 



500 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

of one dollar per acre, the tract of land above described. On which 
the purchasers shall execute another instrument, binding themselves 
and their associates for the payment of the above purchase, agree- 
able to the above conditions. 

And it shall be further declared, in the last mentioned instrument, 
that the purchasers shall not be entitled to take possession of any 
part of the lands contained in the above tract only in the following 
manner, viz: When the first payment is made, they shall have a 
right to take possession of a certain tract of land bounded east by 
the seventh range of townships, on the south by the Ohio river, on 
the west by a line run due north from the western cape of the Great 
Kanawha, so far as that from its termination, a line run east to the 
western boundary of the seventh range of townships may compre- 
hend a quantity adequate to the first payment. When the second 
payment is made, they shall have a right to take possession of as 
great a quantity of land as shall be, when added to the aforesaid 
quantity, equal to the amount of one million dollars; which lands 
shall be bounded on the east by the western line of the seventh 
range of townships, on the south by the first location, on the west 
by a continuation of the line from the Great Kanawha, and on the 
north by an east and west line to the western boundary of the sev- 
enth range of townships. Military rights, in ratio of one to seven, 
to be admitted in the above mentioned possessions for the officers 
and soldiers of the late army who may be proprietors in the said 
lands, and also two townships for the establishment of a literary 
institution. When the first and second instalments are completely 
paid, and not before, the purchasers shall have a right to take pos- 
session of as great a quantity of lands as the several payments at 
that time made shall amount to, and this ratio of equal payment and 
possession shall be continued until the whole payment and posses- 
sion is accomplished. 

When the first and second payments are made, and the first in- 
stalment completed, then the purchasers shall receive a Federal 
deed for the quantity of land which shall be equal to the purchase 
of one million of dollars, comprehended within the boundaries above 
mentioned; and after this period they shall, from time to time, 
receive deeds for as great a quantity of lands as their several pay- 
ments shall entitle them to at the price agreed on. 

5. Notwithstanding the declaration of sale specified in the first 
mentioned instrument, the purchasers and their associates bind and 
oblige themselves, in case of failure in the payments as above men- 
tioned, to renounce all claim or pretension of right to any lands for 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 501 

which they have not made bona fide payment as before expressed, 
and the said Company or individuals thereof shall have no kind 
of right or pretence to enter on or take possession of any parts of 
said tracts, of which such failure is made, and the said tracts shall 
be free to be sold by Congress to any person or persons whatever; 
and in case the said tracts of which such failure is made be after- 
wards exposed to sale by Congress, the present purchasers shall be 
liable to make up the loss, if any, which may arise betwixt the price 
of the land so sold and what is hereby contracted for. 

6. The purchasers shall have the right of preemption of three 
additional townships somewhere northerly of the tract above speci- 
fied, at the price agreed on, and to take possession of the same when 
the payment thereof shall be duly made. 

7. The aforesaid purchasers shall, at their own expense, within 
seven years from date hereof, lay off the whole tract which they 
shall purchase into townships and fractional parts of townships, 
and divide the same into lots according to the land ordinance, and 
make complete returns thereof to the board of treasury. Lots Nos. 
8, 11 and 26, in each township and fractional part of townships, to 
be reserved for the future disposition of Congress. Lot No. 16 
to be given perpetually by Congress to the maintenance of schools, 
and lot No. 29 to the purposes of religion in the said townships. 
Two townships near the center of the second specified tract, which 
comprehends the purchase amounting to the first mentioned million 
of dollars, and of good land, to be also given by Congress for the 
support of a literary institution, to be applied to the intended object 
by the legislature of the State. 

This Memorial, to be found in Vol. XLI. of Papers of the 
Old Congress, Vol. VIII. 226, of the " Memorials," is in Par- 
sons' own handwriting and endorsed, " Memorial of Samuel H. 
Parsons, agent of the associators for the purchase of lands on 
the Ohio. Read May 9th, 1787. Referred to Mr. Carrington, 
Mr. King, Mr. Dane, Mr. Madison, Mr. Benson. Acted on July 
23, 1787 See Committee Book." The Memorial contains no 
objection to the Ordinance as a scheme of government, but it 
lifted the veil which concealed the magnificent future of the 
great Northwest, and made apparent to Congress the crudeness 
and inadequacy of the plan proposed, and suggested broader 
views and the need of more comprehensive provisions. Neither 
on the 10th, nor on the 11th, nor at any time was the 



502 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Ordinance called up for a third reading. The jNIemorial pre- 
sented by Parsons in behalf of the Ohio Company put an end to 
its further consideration. 

From the 11th of May to the 6th of July, there was no 
quorum, many of the Members of Congress being also members 
of the Constitutional Convention which convened at Philadel- 
phia in May. Finding it useless to remain longer in New York, 
General Parsons returned to Middletown, and wrote his co-direc- 
tors informing them of the situation of affairs. While awaiting 
their action, he writes Dr. Johnson in regard to his attending tlie 
Convention and the scheme of government which should be 
adopted by it ; and asks whether he will join in the purchase of a 
township in the Connecticut lands in Ohio, now offered in 
exchange for State Securities : — 

Middletown, June Jf, 1787. 

Sir. — You already know my wishes respecting your attending 
the Convention, but of course you could not refuse the appointment. 
I need not inform you of my apprehensions of the people rejecting 
every form of government which will be adequate to the purposes 
of securing the citizens in the enjoyment of their property and giv- 
ing dignity to our Nation. However, if my fears on this subject 
should prove well founded, I have confidence in the Convention 
that they will recommend such a system as, if adopted, will prove 
effectual, regardless of the opinions which may at present prevail. 
Will any measures effect the necessary purposes which will leave the 
States vested with sovereign power? Is it not necessary that all 
authority in the States should be derived from the supreme sove- 
reignty of the Country, and the States be rendered amenable to the 
Supreme Power? This will reduce them to corporations and relieve 
us from the absurdity of Iviperium in Imperio. I most ardently 
desire the prosperity of my Country; much, very much, depends on 
the wisdom and firmness of the Convention. No future Convention 
can be in circumstances to devise or effect the necessary reforms so 
effectually as the present. Their views and advice, even if rejected, 
may yet serve as a light to guide us to a safe port in an hour of great 
distress. 

I wish to be informed whether I am to consider you a purchaser 
in the Connecticut lands, and in what proportion of a township. 
You know an entire township amounts to $11,000 in State securi- 
ties. If you become an adventurer, you will please give me direc- 
tions where to apply for your proportion, as I soon intend taking 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 503 

out a patent and making a tour into that country if I procure 
a patent seasonably. 

I am &c., 
To Dr. Johnson. Saml. H. Parsons. 

The directors of the Ohio Company upon receiving Parsons' 
report of their affairs, decided that Dr. Cutler, after conferring 
with Parsons, should proceed to New York and continue the 
negotiations. Dr. Cutler was a Massachusetts clergyman, of 
more than ordinary ability, a born lobbyist, remarkable for his 
powers of persuasion and for his knowledge of men. He was also 
a man of refined tastes, fond of nature and the natural sciences 
and very observing, as a persual of the entries in his most 
interesting diary of this journey will show. Leaving Boston, 
June 25, he reached Middletown on the 30th. Approaching 
the city from the high ground at the north, a great stretch of 
country on each side of the river and beyond the city, broken by 
hills and vallej's, in full view, he becomes wildly enthusiastic 
over the rare beauty of the scene. " The first thought that 
struck me," he writes in his diary, " was that this vast tract 
was filled with gentlemen's country seats, surrounded with exten- 
sive gardens, fruit trees and groves. I fancied myself in the 
Elysian Fields, and gazed with delighted astonishment until the 
sun was set and the sable curtain of night was so far drawn as to 
close the enchanting scene." The Doctor's diary tells us of his 
visit in Middletown: — 

I arrived at General Parsons' house early in the evening, before 
day-light-in, but it was too dark to make any observations on the 
city. He lives in the main street, opposite the church. His house 
is large and his situation delightful. The General was very com- 
plaisant and insisted on my lodging with him. He sent his servant 
immediately to the Rev. Mr. Huntington to inform him of my being 
in town, who, on his return, requested the General to come with me 
in the morning to his home. 

Sunday, July 1. — This morning General Parsons introduced me 
to Mr. Huntington, but engaged me to dine with him. Mr. Hunting- 
ton's Meeting House is a very large but ancient fabric. The house 
was crowded and the people in general dressed in a very tasty 
manner. I spent the evening at General Parsons' in company with 
my good old friend, Mr. Plumb, who has left the desk for the bar 



504 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

and is set down as an attorney in this city. Mr. Russell, a late tutor, 
and several other gentlemen, spent the evening with us. Mrs. Par- 
sons, who appears to be an amiable lady of rather a serious turn, 
treated me with the greatest kindness and attention. 

Monday July 2. — It was at nine o'clock this morning before Gen- 
eral Parsons and I had settled all our matters with respect to my 
business with Congress. He favored me with a large number of 
letters to Members of. Congress and other gentlemen in New York. 

Leaving Middletown on the 2d of July, and jogging 
along in his " one hoss shay " at the rate of from thirty to 
forty miles each day, through Wallingford, New Haven — where 
he was entertained by the College set — through Stratford, Fair- 
field, Stamford, Horseneck and Rye, crossing the Harlem at 
Kingsbridge, Dr. Cutler made his entry into New York b}'^ way 
of the Bowery, and stabled his horse at the sign of the " Plow 
and Harrow," a conspicuous hostelry on that ancient avenue. 
Having rid himself of the dust of travel, he walked downtown 
to Mr. Henderson's " a wholesale merchant who lived in Gold 
Street in genteel style," whose wife was a sister of his friend. 
President Willard of Harvard, and delivered the first of his 
forty-two letters of introduction. He was very politely received 
by Mr. Henderson and " urged to take lodgings with him while 
he tarried in the city." " Finding that no apology would avail, 
he accepted his invitation." The next day, the 6th, he delivered 
most of his introductory letters to the Members of Congress and 
presented his petition for purchasing lands for the Ohio Com- 
pany and proposed terms and conditions of purchase. The even- 
ing he spent with several Members. 

On Monday, the 9th, he waited on Mr. Thomas Hutchins, 
the United States Geographer General, who advised him by all 
means to make his location on the Muskingum, which was, in his 
opinion, decidedly the best part of the whole Western Country. 
The same day he discussed the terms of purchase with the Com- 
mittee of Congress, (the same to which Parsons' Memorial was 
referred and of which Colonel Carrington was Chairman), but 
" we were so wide apart that there appeared little prospect of 
closing a contract." The meeting place of Congress at this 
time was in the City Hall, on Wall street at the head of Broad 
street, " near the center of the city." The evening he spent in 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 505 

Hanover Square with Dr. Holton, for some time President of 
Congress, and several other Members. On the 10th, Cutler 
had another conference with the Committee, after which he dined 
with Colonel Duer, whose wife was a daughter of General Lord 
Stirling. He notes in his diary that Mr. Duer had not less than 
fifteen different sorts of wine at dinner, and, after the cloth was 
removed, besides most excellent bottled cider, porter and several 
other kinds of strong beer. 

The Committee of Congress having in charge the Ordinance 
for the government of the Western Territory, very courteously 
sent a copy to Mr. Cutler, as agent of the Ohio Company, " with 
leave to make remarks and propose amendments." Availing him- 
self of the opportunity thus afforded, Mr. Cutler proposed sev- 
eral amendments, all of which were embodied in the bill, except- 
ing one which exempted the Territory from Continental taxa- 
tion until it should become entitled to a full representation in 
Congress. " This could not be fully obtained, for it was con- 
sidered as offering a premium for emigrants. They have granted 
us representation, with the right of debating, but not of voting, 
upon our being first subject to taxation." He does not say what 
were his other amendments, but presumably, like this, their pur- 
pose was to furnish extra inducements to settlers. To Cutler is 
ascribed by some, an important part both in formulating and in 
securing the passage of the Ordinance, but his diary furnishes 
little ground for this. All he claims to have done was to suggest 
a few amendments, immediately after which he left for Phila- 
delphia, making no effort to urge their adoption or secure the 
passage of the bill. The Ordinance was passed during his 
absence and without his knowledge or aid. " It was in a degree 
new modeled," he says after examining a copy. So far as the 
governmental machinery is concerned, the Ordinance does not 
differ essentially from that which was laid aside upon the pre- 
sentation of Parsons' Memorial. The new and valuable prin- 
ciples introduced, were the same which ever since May were being 
discussed and formulated in the Constitutional Convention at 
Philadelphia. JNIany Members of Congress being members also 
of the Convention and familiar with its conclusions, it would be 
surprising if the same conclusions had not been made a part of 
the Ordinance. The fact that these new principles had already 



606 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

been thought out and put in form and needed merely to be 
attached to that part of the old Ordinance providing for the 
machinery of government, accounts for the astonishing accom- 
plishment of the new Committee on the Ordinance, appointed 
on the 9th of July. The bill was reported on the 11th, read 
the second time on the 12th, and on the 13th became a 
law, all in four days, and became known in history as the famous 
Ordinance of 1787. 

The distinguishing feature of the Ordinance is, the Sixth 
Article prohibiting slavery Northwest of the Ohio. Mr. Dane 
says : " When I drew the Ordinance, I had no idea the States 
would agree to this Article, as only Massachusetts of the East- 
em States was present, and therefore omitted it in the draft ; 
but finding the House favorably disposed on the subject, after 
we had completed the other parts, I moved the Article, which was 
agreed to without opposition." 

In 1784, a Committee composed of Thomas Jefferson, of 
Virginia, Mr. Chase of Maryland and Mr. Howell of Rhode 
Island, had submitted to Congress a plan for the government of 
the Western Territory prohibiting slavery or involuntary serv- 
itude therein after the year 1800, except for crime, and giving 
names to the States into which the Territory was to be divided. 
Both these provisions were stricken out, after which the plan was 
adopted and remained the law until 1787, when it was repealed. 
The State names with which Jefferson proposed to decorate the 
map of the Northwest, were : Sylvania, Michigania, Cher- 
sonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Illinoia, Saratoga, Wash- 
ington, Polypotamia and Pelisipia. In 1785, an attempt was 
made to amend the prohibition into the Ordinance of 1784, and 
make it a compact between these States and the United States, 
but the amendment, which was referred to the Committee of the 
Whole, was never reported. After the proposal of the Ohio 
emigration scheme, the matter took on a new aspect, backed as 
it was by men of the prominence and known practical ability of 
Parsons and Putnam, and all opposition to the prohibition of 
slavery in the Territory vanished. This unanimit}^, however, 
was based rather on economic than moral considerations, slavery 
at this time being regarded as a species of apprenticeship, unde- 
sirable only when unprofitable. " The clause respecting 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 507 

slavery," writes Grayson of Virginia to Monroe, in August of 
this year, " was agreed to by the Southern Members for the pur- 
pose of preventing tobacco and indigo from being made on the 
northwest side of the Ohio, as well as for several political 
reasons." And Jolin Randolph of the same State, in March, 
1802, reporting adversely upon a Memorial of General William 
Henry Harrison and other citizens of Indiana Territory, ask- 
ing Congress to suspend the operation of the Sixth Article of the 
Ordinance so that slave labor could be employed in the Territory, 
says : — 

The rapid population of the. State of Ohio sufficiently evinces, 
in the opinion of your Committee, that the labor of slaves is not 
necessary to promote the growth and settlement of colonies in that 
region; that this labor, demonstrably the dearest of any, can only 
be employed to advantage in the cultivation of products more valua- 
ble than any known to that quarter of the United States; that the 
Committee deem it highly dangerous and inexpedient to impair a 
provision wisely calculated to promote the happiness and prosperity 
of the Northwestern Country, and to give strength and security to 
that extensive frontier. In the salutary operation of this sagacious 
and benevolent restraint, it is believed that the inhabitants of In- 
diana will, at no distant day, find ample remuneration for a tem- 
porary privation of labor and of emigration. 

Having returned from Philadelphia on the 18th, and the 
Ordinance being out of the way. Cutler now hoped to secure the 
attention of Congress to his scheme of purchase, in regard to 
which there was considerable difference of opinion among the 
members. He wished to ascertain who were for and who were 
against his scheme, and, if possible, to bring his opponents over. 
Colonel Duer of New York, who had been quick to see the advan- 
tage of such a sale to the public credit and to the adjoining 
lands, promised to assist him. " Grayson, R. H. Lee and Car- 
rington," as reads his diary, " are certainly my warm advocates. 
Holton, I think, may be trusted. Dane must be carefully 
watched, notwithstanding his professions. Clarke, Bingham, 
Yates, Kearney and Few are troublesome fellows. They must be 
attacked by my friends at their lodgings. If they can be 
brought over, I shall succeed; if not, mv business is at an end." 



508 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Oil the 19th, an Ordinance was proposed in answer to Cutler's 
petition, but the temis it contained were not satisfactory ; " he 
would prefer purchasing lands of some of the States, who would 
give incomparably better terms, and therefore, proposed to leave 
the city immediately." His friends insisted upon his remain- 
ing, and, " if I desired it," would take up the matter again. 
" Colonel Duer at this juncture," says the diary, " came to me 
with proposals from a number of the principal characters in the 
city, to extend our contract, and take in another company, but 
that it should be kept a profound secret. He explained the plan 
they had concerted, and offered me generous conditions if I 
would accomplish the business for them." The plan " struck 
Cutler agreeably," but he deemed it policy to " hold up the idea 
of giving up a contract with Congress, and making a contract 
with some of the States." " The Committee were mortified, and 
did not know what to say, but still urged another attempt ; " 
" I left them in that state, but afterwards explained my views to 
Mr. Duer, and promised to consider his proposals." The next 
day, Saturday, several Members of Congress called on Cutler 
and " discovered much anxiety about a contract," but he cannily 
affected great indifference, and talked of -the advantages of a 
contract with some of the States. " This, I found, had the 
desired effect." " At length, I told them if Congress would 
accede to the terms I had proposed, I would extend the purchase 
to the tenth township from the Ohio, and to the Scioto, inclu- 
sively, by which Congress would pay near four millions of the 
National debt." This offer to more than double the quantity of 
land to be purchased, though apparently in behalf of the Ohio 
Company, was really made to include the large tract of Duer's 
company. 

On Monday, July 23, Congress again took up the matter, 
and, at three o'clock, passed an Ordinance which must have been 
the action meant by the endorsement of Parsons' Memorial, 
"Acted on July 23, 1787." The report of the Committee to 
which it was referred* is endorsed by its Chairman, Colonel 
Carrington, in his own hand, " Report of Connnittee on 
Memorial of S. H. Parsons ; " and also by Mr. Thompson, 
Secretary of Congress, " Report of Mr. Carrington, jNIr. King, 
Mr. Dane, Mr. Madison, Mr. Benson. Read July 10, 1787. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 509 

Order for the day the 11th; " but it does not appear what dis- 
position was made of the report or whether the Ordinance of 
July 23, was its recommendation. This Ordinance, however, 
was not entirely satisfactory, and Cutler pulled another string. 
Up to this time he had openly supported General Parsons for 
the Governorship, but finding that General St, Clair, then Presi- 
dent of Congress, had secured a large interest with the Southern 
Members, and suspecting that his well-known advocacy of Par- 
sons' claim might be an impediment in the way of his plans, he 
took occasion to declare that if General Parsons could have the 
appointment of First Judge and Sargent that of Secretary, he 
should be satisfied, and " would solicit the Eastern INIembers in 
favor of such an arrangement." The subsequent complaisance 
of St. Clair and his assurance that he would make every possible 
exertion to prevail on Congress to accept the " terms in our 
letter," fully convinced Cutler " that it was good policy to give 
up Parsons and openly appear solicitous that St. Clair might 
be appointed Governor." He was told by several gentlemen that 
" since St. Clair and his friends had been informed that we had 
given up Parsons, and that I had solicited the Eastern Members 
in his favor, our matters went on much better." 

On the 27th a modification of the Ordinance was secured, 
making it conform to the " terms stated in our letter without 
the least variation." " By this Ordinance," writes Cutler, " we 
obtained the grant of near five million acres of land, amounting 
to three and one-half million of dollars, one million and a half 
acres for the Ohio Company, and the remainder for a private 
speculation in which many of the principal characters in 
America are concerned. Without connecting this speculation, 
similar terms could not have been obtained for the Ohio Com- 
pany." This " speculation " was the Scioto Company. Duer's 
injunction of secrecy related to the fact that the increased 
amount of land was not for the Ohio, but for the Scioto Com- 
pany. Had this fact been made public, doubtless both projects 
would have been defeated ; but, being kept secret, the influence 
of the " principal characters " let into the speculation was 
sufficient to secure the passage of the Ordinance. The Scioto 
speculation terminated disastrously, and in the end carried Duer 
down with it. The Ohio Company was measurably successful, 



510 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

but the subscription never reached the milHon dollar mark, and 
finally, by a liberal compromise, deeds were given to the direc- 
tors for more than a million acres of land. 

Immediately after the passage of the Ordinance, Dr. Cutler 
commenced his homeward journey, stopping at Middletown on 
the way to confer with General Parsons. Of this visit, he writes 
in his diary: — 

When I had informed General Parsons of my negotiations with 
Congress, I had the pleasure to find it not only met his approbation, 
but he expressed his astonishment that I had obtained terms so 
advantageous, which he said were far beyond his expectations. He 
assured me that he preferred the appointment of First Judge to 
that of Governor, especially if General St. Clair was the Governor. 
He proposed writing to General St. Clair and his friends in Con- 
gress, that they would procure me an appointment on the same 
bench; but I absolutely declined, assuring him that I had no wish 
to go into the civil line. Mrs. Parsons was exceedingly complaisant. 
She said they looked hard for me on Saturday night, and that it 
was hoped that I should preach for them yesterday, especially as 
Mr. Huntington was gone to Windham, and that the people were 
much disappointed at my not coming. We spent a very long and 
agreeable evening, for we did not go to bed until half after one. 

Upon Cutler's return to Boston, a meeting of the Ohio Com- 
pany was held at the " Bunch of Grapes Tavern " (August 
29), at which he reported that the lands to be conveyed to the 
Company in consideration of the million of dollars to be raised 
by subscription, are bounded on the cast by the western 
boundary of the seventh range of townships ; south by the Ohio ; 
west by a meridian line drawn through the western cape of the 
Great Kanawha River, and extending so far north that a due 
east and west line from the seventh range of townships to the 
said meridian line shall include the whole." This tract differs 
from that described in Parsons' Memorial (to which Cutler and 
others objected), which included the river front to the Scioto and 
extended northerly only to an east and west line running from 
the northwest corner of the south township of the seventh range 
to the Scioto. The tract also extended northerly far enough to 
include lands to be set apart for the support of schools and a 
University and for religious purposes, soldier's bounties and 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 511 

other objects. It was resolved by the meeting that a tract four 
miles in front by two miles in depth be reserved for a city and 
commons, to be laid out in squares with streets one hundred feet 
in width, and that one hundred houses be enclosed for the recep- 
tion of settlers. His proceedings in New York having been 
approved, Cutler returned to the city and, on the 27th of 
October, completed his contract for " nearly six million acres of 
land," and with Major Sargent signed the " Indented Agree- 
ment in two distinct contracts^, one for the Ohio Company and 
the other for the Scioto Company, the greatest private con- 
tract ever made in America." Returning, he " rode to Hart- 
ford early the 31st, and dined there that day with General 
Parsons." 

On Friday, the 5th of October, 1787, Congress proceeded 
to organize the Western Territory by electing Arthur St. Clair, 
Governor ; Samuel Holden Parsons, James M. Varnum and John 
Armstrong, Judges. Mr. Armstrong declining, Jolni Clcves 
Symmes was afterwards appointed to the vacancy. The terri- 
tory within their jurisdiction included the present States of 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. 

The following is a copy of General Parsons' commission as 
Judg£ of the Northwest Territory :— ^ 

The United States in Congress assembled, to Samuel Holden Par- 
sons, Esq. 
We, reposing special trust and confidence in your wisdom, up- 
rightness and integrity, have constituted and appointed, and by these 
presents do constitute and appoint, you, the said Samuel Holden 
Parsons, one of the judges in and over the Territory of the United 
States north-west of the river Ohio, with full power and authority, 
in conjunction with one or more of the judges of said territory, to 
form a court, with all the powers and authorities incident to a court 
having a common law jurisdiction, and to exercise all such powers, 
and perform and execute all the duties directed by the ordinance 
of the 13th of July, 1787, entitled, " An ordinance for the govern- 
ment of the territory north-west of the river Ohio," which is hereto 
affixed; giving to you, the said Samuel Holden Parsons, all the 
powers and authorities assigned to a judge of the said territory, in 
and by the ordinance aforesaid; and we do enjoin all persons to 
pay due obedience to this our commission. This commission to con- 



512 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

tinue and be in force^ during good behavior, or during the existence 
of the government established by the ordinance aforesaid. You 
residing within the said territory. 
In testimony whereof &c. 

The Convention which framed the Constitution of the United 
States assembled in Philadelphia in May, 1787, and completed 
its work on the 12th of September following. The Constitu- 
tion was submitted to Congress the 28th, and was sent by that 
Body to the several State Legislatures, by which conventions 
were called to consider it. In Connecticut, the Legislature, on 
the 16th of October, called a Convention by a unanimous vote. 
" To this Convention," says Bancroft, " were chosen the retired 
and the present highest officers of its Government; the judges 
of its Courts ; ministers of the Gospel ; and nearly sixty who had 
fought for Independence." General Parsons was a member of 
this Convention, and among the Fairfield members, we find our 
old acquaintance, the spy Heron. 

In January, 1778, the Convention met at Hartford. Having 
organized in the State House, it adjourned to the more 
capacious North Meeting House, where the people could wit- 
ness its proceedings and listen to the debates. It was agreed 
that no vote should be taken until the whole Constitution had 
been read and debated, section by section. On the 9th, the 
Convention was ready to vote, and of the one hundred and sixty- 
eight ballots cast, one hundred and twenty-eight were for the 
Constitution. 

In reply to a letter from Parsons announcing the action of 
Connecticut, General Knox, on the 13th, wrote: — 

I thank you a thousand times for the agreeable news contained 
in your note of Wednesday evening. The business now draws to a 
crisis. If Massachusetts adopts it with a considerable majority, all 
will go well, otherwise we must all I believe, become inhabitants of 
Ohio. No war between England and France. 

I am affectionately, 
To General Parsons. J. Knox. 

Connecticut was the fifth State to ratify the Constitution, 
but Georgia, whose first delegate in Congress and one of her 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 513 

Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Governor Lyman 
Hall, was a Connecticut man, and whose early settlers were, so 
many of them, Connecticut men, had anticipated her in her 
action by one week. New Hampshire enjoys the distinction of 
completing by her ratification, the number of States necessary 
for the establishment of the Constitution. Virginia and New 
York following within a month, the Continental Congress pre- 
pared to organize the new government, and on the 13th of 
September 

Resolved, That the first Wednesday in January next be the day 
for appointing Electors in the several States, which^ before the 
said day, shall have ratified the said Constitution; that the first 
Wednesday in February next be the day for the Electors to assemble 
in their respective States, and vote for a President; and that the 
first Wednesday in March be the time, and the present seat of Con- 
gress (New York) the place, for commencing the proceedings under 
the said Constitution. 

In pursuance of this resolution, proceedings were commenced 
under the Constitution on the 4th of March, 1789, by the 
assembling of the Senate and Representatives in the Chambers 
provided for their use in the City Hall, which at that time stood 
on the north side of Wall Street, opposite the head of Broad 
Street ; but, in the absence of a quorum, the House was not able 
to organize until April 1, and the Senate not until April 
6, at which time the electoral votes were counted in the 
presence of the two Houses, and George Washington was 
declared to be unanimously elected President, and John Adams 
duly elected Vice-President. 

The inaugural ceremonies took place the 30th, on the 
balcony in front of the Senate Chamber, in the presence of a 
great concourse of people. The President was attended by the 
Vice-President and Senators, by the Speaker and Representa- 
tives and by other prominent personages. The oath of office 
was administered by Chancellor Livingston of the State of New 
York amid the loud acclaim of the populace, " Long Live George 
Washington, President of the United States." Returning to 
the Senate Chamber, the President delivered his inaugural 
address to the two Houses in joint session, after which the whole 



514 



LIFE AND LETTERS OF 



assembly marched in solemn procession to St. Pauls to render 
thanks and invoke the Divine Blessing on the new Government. 
The ceremonies concluded, the President was escorted to the 
Mansion prepared for his residence in Cherry Street near 
Franklin Square, then the most fashionable part of the city. 
The day ended with fireworks and illuminations. The organiza- 
tion of the Government was now completed, and the new 
Republic commenced its eventful career. 









CHAPTER XXVII 

Settlement of Ohio. Letters to General Washington and 
Dr. Cutler. Arrival of St. Clair, Parsons and Varnum and 
THE Establishment of Civil Government in the Territory. 
They Prepare a Code of Laws. Celebration of the Fourth 
OF July. Parsons' Thanksgiving Sermon. The Importance 
of the New Settlement. 

December, 1787 — December, 1788 

In the Autumn of 1787, at a meeting held at Brackett's Tavern 
in Boston, the shareholders of the Ohio Company resolved to 
send a party of skilled mechanics and laborers to the head- 
waters of the Ohio to build boats suitable for transporting men 
and provisions, in order to be ready at the opening of Spring to 
descend the river and commence the proposed settlement at 
the mouth of the Muskingum. The place selected for opera- 
tions, was Sumrill's Ferry on the Youghiogheny, about thirty 
miles above Pittsburgh. The first division of the pioneers, 
about twenty of whom were employees of the Company, left 
Danvers in Massachusetts, December the 3d, under the com- 
mand of Major Hatfield White, and Captain Ezra Putnam, the 
former a captain during the war in Colonel Rufus Putnam's 
Fifth Massachusetts. The second division, comprising the sur- 
veyors and the remainder of the pioneers, assembled at Hart- 
ford on the 1st of January, 1788. General Rufus Putnam was 
to have accompanied this party, but having to go by the way of 
New York on business for the Company, Colonel Sproat, second 
hi command, assumed control. Putnam overtook the party on 
the 24'th at Swatara Creek in Pennsylvania, where it had been 
greatly delayed in crossing on account of the ice. Here com- 
menced the serious difficulties of their journey. The very night 
the crossing was effected, the roads became so blocked by a 
heavy fall of snow, that during the next five days it was impos- 
sible to get the wagons further than the little village of Straws- 
burgh at the foot of the Tuscarawas Mountains. Learning that 
the mountain roads had become impassable for their wagons, 

315 



616 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

they abandoned them and built sledges to take their place. To 
these the horses were harnessed tandem and driven along a track 
broken by the men walking single file. In this way the moun- 
tains were crossed and Sumrill's Ferry reached after two weeks 
of incessant labor. Here they found the party under Major 
White, which had arrived two weeks before. 

Preparations were now commenced in earnest under the su- 
pervision of General Putnam, and by the 1st of April, the 
" Adventure Galley," as they called it, a decked boat forty-five 
feet in length and twelve feet beam, afterwards rechristened the 
" Mayflower," was safely launched and ready for its voyage. 
Embarking with their stores, accompanied by a flat-boat and 
three canoes, these Pilgrim Fathers of the West floated down 
the Alleghany, past Pittsburgh, out into the Ohio, and, on the 
8th of April, arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum, where 
they were warmly welcomed by the garrison at Fort Harmar and 
a party of Delawares encamped there to trade with the soldiers. 
Landing on the point opposite the Fort, they proceeded to lay 
the foundations of their city, which, not to be behind old Rome, 
was to have its Campus Martins, Via Sacra and Capitolium. 
Selecting the summit of an ancient fortification of the Mound- 
Builders for the Campus Martins, they capped it with a huge 
building of hewn logs, two stories in height, with blockhouses at 
the angles, and placed within its protecting walls, their women 
and children. The adjacent lands, in accordance with the plan 
agreed upon by the Directors of the Company, they divided into 
sixty city blocks, three hundred and sixty feet square, arranged 
in an oblong form, ten in front and six in depth, and separated 
by avenues one hundred feet in width. Four of these blocks 
were reserved for public uses, and the remaining fifty-six were 
subdivided into house lots. At a convenient distance from the 
city, they laid out one thousand lots of eight acres each, one of 
which, together with one city lot, was to be assigned by lot to 
each proprietary share. 

The work of felling trees, clearing the ground, plowing and 
planting proceeded rapidly under the hands of these hardy New 
Englanders. The tents, which at first were their onl}' shelter, 
were being fast displaced b}' comfortable houses. Before the 
winter set in, more than sixty dwellings had been completed, but, 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 517 

though constantly building, they were unable to keep pace with 
the new arrivals. By the end of the year, the little settlement 
could boast a population of one hundred and thirty-two men, 
besides women and children, in all, nearly two hundred souls. 
Except in this one settlement, there was not at this time a single 
white family within the present bounds of Ohio. Major Denny, 
then stationed at Fort Harmar, writes of them in liis diary: 
" These people appear the most happy folks in the world, 
greatly satisfied with their new purchase. They certainly are 
the best informed, most courteous and civil strangers of any I 
have yet met with. The order and regularity observed by all, 
their sober deportment and perfect submission to the constituted 
authorities, must tend much to promote their settlements." The 
Boston people had called the new city " Adelphia," but at the 
first meeting of the Directors held on the ground, there being 
present. Generals Parsons, Putnam and Varnum, it was named 
" Marietta " in honor of the French Queen, Marie Antoinette, 
whose kindly offices during the dark days of the Revolution these 
old soldiers had not forgotten. 

General Parsons left Middletown for the Muskingum early 
in April. No letters have been found showing his precise route, 
but we know that he passed through Carlisle in Pennsylvania. 
He seems to have made the long journey alone, and to have left 
home much depressed in spirit, as if burdened with a premoni- 
tion of the sad fate which awaited him. 

The following letter of advice to his daughters, written soon 
after his departure, is interesting, not only as showing the 
serious tone apt to pervade the family letters of the period in 
New England, but as giving an inner view of the character of 
the man : — 

April 12th, 1788. 

My Dear Children. — The sorrow expressed in parting with your 
father most sensibly affected me. The tear of sympathy suppressed 
my efforts to give advice, perhaps, and most probably, the last you 
will ever have an opportunity of receiving from the lips of your 
affectionate parent. The time cannot be more profitably spent this 
evening than by recalling the scenes of anxiety at our parting, and 
giving you the advice, which if pursued, will make you comfortable 
in life, and happy in the reflection of that event which must soon 
part you from all your friends in this world. 



518 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

A kind and courteous behavior to one another, a civil deportment 
among your equals, a benevolent temper towards your inferiors and 
a dutiful respect to your superiors in age or rank, will always mark 
you as persons of sensibility and attention, while the opposite con- 
duct will sink you into disgrace and contempt. Remember your own 
honor is too nearly connected with that of each other to expect it to 
be maintained on the sacrifice of a brother's or a sister's feelings. 

Remember that whatever the world may pretend, no persons are 
so much respected as those whose constant behavior evidences an 
habitual principle of virtue and religion, nor can any considerations 
support your tender minds under misfortunes and afflictions, but a 
full confidence in the great Governor of the world, and a reliance 
on Him for help in every difficulty and danger. I cannot but reflect 
with concern that I have so much neglected to impress your minds 
with ideas of your constant dependence on the Supreme Being for 
all you possess and enjoy. The justice of His administrations and 
a consciousness of our ill returns for his favors may fill our minds 
with apprehensions of destruction from His hand whom we have 
so often offended, but, my children, remember he is a God of mercy 
as well as justice. Look into that best of books, your Bible, and you 
will there find consolation under your afflictions, and there learn a 
way to be relieved from all your troubles. Carefully attend to the 
precepts you there find, and no troubles you here experience can long 
afflict you. Let your attention be particularly called to your mothers 
comfort; remember she is now to be your adviser and director in all 
your conduct. The want of your father I am sure you will most 
sensibly feel, but remember you have a constant guardian, your 
Heavenly father; in Him put your trust and you will never have 
reason to repent it. Give yourselves to industry and the practice 
of every virtue. I shall always be happy in hearing of your good 
conduct. Give yourself no distressing hours about me; that Being 
who has hitherto preserved me will continue to help and support me 
under my complicated troubles whilst he has anything for me to do 
in this world. On Him I hope and rely. 

I don't think it probable you will ever see me again. I have very 
little expectation of returning to New England again; my duty 
calls me away from you. I most ardently wish you may come to me, 
but on this subject I can say very little. 

Adieu my dear children; may you merit Heaven's best blessings. 

S. H. Parsons. 

At this time but six States, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Georgia, had ratified the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 519 

new constitution, and the general feeling was that the success 
of the proposed plan of government depended upon the action 
of Virginia, Having taken an active part in the Connecticut 
Convention, General Parsons, upon his arrival at Carlisle, wrote 
to General Washington as follows, expressing his anxiety as to 
the sentiment of Virginia and alluding to the future intimate 
relations which must exist between the East and the West should 
the proposed government be established: — 

Carlisle, Pa., April 21st, 1788. 
Dear General. — I am now on my road to the settlements form- 
ing on the Ohio River, and take this only method in my power to 
take leave of your Excellency and to assure you of my most cordial 
wishes for your happiness. Should any occurrences render my serv- 
ices in that country of use to you, I shall never be more happy than 
in devoting myself to the execution of your wishes. The state of 
our country must give very sensible trouble to every good citizen and 
to none more than to your Excellency who has acted so conspicuous a 
part in effecting our Independence. In the eastern States I think 
opposition to the Federal Government is nearly ended. We have 
our eyes now turned to Virginia ; if there is wisdom to adopt the 
proposed plan in that State, I think we may hope to restore to our 
nation the honor their folly has lost them. I view the adoption of 
the present plan with all its imperfections as the only means of 
preserving the Union of the States and securing the happiness of 
all parts of this extensive country. I feel myself deeply interested 
in this subject as it will affect the country of which I am now com- 
mencing as an inhabitant. I am sure it must ever be our interest 
to continue connection with the Atlantic States. To them we must 
look ever for protection and from them we can receive such supplies 
as we want with more facility than from any other neighbor ; but 
without an efficient government we can expect no benefits of a con- 
nection, and I fear it will lead us to improper measures. The navi- 
gation of the Potomac is very interesting to our settlement. If it 
is perfected according to the proposed scheme, we shall save a land 
transportation of five hundred miles, the route we at present pursue. 
Our new settlement progresses rapidly. Two hundred families will 
be within our city by July, and I think we are sure of one thousand 
families from New England within one year if we remain in peace. 
I am with every sentiment of esteem and respect, 

Yr. Excellency's obt. servt., 
To General JVashino-ton. S. H. Parsons. 



520 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

General Washington had carefully studied the subject of 
inland navigation during a tour through New York in 1783, 
made in company with Governor Clinton while waiting for the 
definitive treaty of peace between the United States and Great 
Britain. At this time he was especially interested in a project 
to connect by slack-water navigation the navigable waters of 
the Potomac with the great rivers of the West. The plan pro- 
posed — the same subsequently adopted and put into successful 
operation between Schenectady and Oneida Lake by way of the 
Mohawk and Wood Creek — was to improve the navigation by 
short canals around the rifts and shallows, and by dams where 
it was necessary to increase the depth of the water. The expense 
of the undertaking, however, postponed its execution until the 
construction of the Erie Canal, connecting the Hudson and the 
Lakes, after which it became financially impracticable. 

General Parsons and Major Sargent arrived at Pittsburgh, 
Sunday, May 11. Colonel May of Connecticut, then quar- 
tered on the opposite side of the river from Pittsburgh, mentions 
in his diary some incidents of their stay in that place: — 

May 12th. About 4 o'clock, Generals Harmar, Parsons and 
several other gentlemen called. They crossed the river in the " Con- 
gress " barge, fifty-two feet long and rowed by twelve men in white 
uniforms and caps. The gentlemen invited me to take a row with 
them up the Alleghany River. 

Sunday, the 18th. About 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Generals 
Parsons and Hamar, and a Mr. White, Member of Congress from 
North Carolina, came over and paid me a visit, which was very 
agreeable. They spent one hour on this side and then returned. 

On the 26th of May, General Parsons and IMajor Sargent 
arrived at Marietta, having, perhaps, come down the river with 
General Harmar in his twelve-oared barge. The following letter 
to his wife, General Parsons dates from the Muskingum, June 
1, 1788:— 

I arrived here last Monday from Pittsburg. The rains have 
been so frequent since General Putnam came to this place, which 
was not until the eighth of April, that very little progress has been 
made in erecting buildings to cover the people. After the survey 
of the eight acre lots, they have been employed in preparing and 
planting the grounds on which the city is to be built. We have now 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 521 

about one hundred and thirty acres cleared and planted. I have four 
acres in corn and intend having about three acres more this season. 

The place for our town is about three fourths of a mile from the 
Ohio, on the east side of the Muskingum and about five hundred 
yards from that River on an elevated plat of ground commanding 
a most beautiful and extensive view of both rivers. The adjoining 
lands are excellent — no lands can be better — but are in general 
heavily timbered. You have been very fortunate in your draft. 
Your lot adjoins the Ohio, one mile from town in a most delightful 
situation and is excelled by no land in quality. I have ten acres 
near it which I intend to clear, and eight acres within three fourths 
of a mile of the town in another direction. This is all I shall be 
able to command near the town, my other lots being from two to 
eight miles distant. I shall begin to-morrow to build my house and 
hope by the end of the week to be settled in a family of my own. 
We have now about one hundred and forty men on the grounds and 
about that number are expected to arrive soon. No families are here 
yet; those who have brought them over the mountains have left them 
in the vicinity of the Monongahela. We shall begin our Fort and 
buildings in it this week. The Indians here appear very friendly 
and are frequently with us. The treaty will be held in July. On 
the issue of that very much depends. Should that issue fortunately 
for us, we shall very soon become a large settlement. Every pros- 
pect as to the goodness of our lands and the facility of producing 
the means of living, equal my most sanguine hopes, and I find all the 
people appear fully satisfied. I can receive a guinea per acre for 
one of my eight-acre lots if I will sell, and your lot will bring the 
same price, but I cannot part with either of them. I have sold one 
of my 116 acre lots for one hundred dollars to be paid in clearing 
my lands near the city. The purchase is in great demand and high 
estimation, and I have yet a hope, if I live, to place the family in 
easy circumstances. 

General Varnum went by way of Baltimore and has not yet ar- 
rived. The Indians have done some mischief in Kentucky and on 
the Wabash, but all things are quiet in this quarter. Give a Father's 
blessing to all our dear children and believe me, my dear. Your very 
affectionate and faithful. g^^^^^^ ^ Parsons. 

P. S. — 7th of June. General Varnum has arrived. 

The arrival of Generals Parsons and Varnum making, with 
General Putnam, a quorum of the directors of the Ohio Com- 
pany, the first meeting of the Board in Marietta was held on the 



522 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

2d of July. The result of the distribution of the eight-acre 
lots having caused considerable dissatisfaction, it was voted at 
this meeting to divide the three thousand acres reserved for City 
Commons, into three-acre lots for distribution. The name of the 
city was changed at this meeting from Adelphia to IMarietta. 

The following extract from Colonel May's diary gives a 
picture of life in the early days of the settlement : — 

Sunday, June 8th. — A beautiful day. No preaching established 
as yet. About noon General Harmar's barge came to carry a number 
of us to dine. The gentlemen who went over were, Generals Par- 
sons, Putnam and Varnum; Colonels Sproat, Battelle, Meigs and 
May; Major Sargent and Mr. Rice. At S o'clock, dinner on the 
table, and as elegant a table as any in Boston. Amongst the solids 
were bacon gammon, venison tongues, roast and boiled lamb, barba- 
cued and a la mode beef, perch and catfish, lobsters and oysters. For 
vegetables, green peas, radishes and salads. For drink, spirits, 
excellent wine, brandy and beer. We spent the afternoon, drank 
tea, crossed the River and back again and went to rest." 

June 17, Colonel May notes : — 

This evening Judge Parsons' and General Varnum's commis- 
sions were read; also regulations for the government of the people. 
In fact by-laws were very much wanted. Officers were named to 
command the militia ; guards to be mounted every evening ; all males 
more than fifteen years old to appear under arms every Sunday. 

Great preparations were making at this time for the treaty 
which was expected to be held with the Indians on the arrival of 
Governor St. Clair. Two large keel boats — one eighty-five feet 
long, the other seventy-two — laden with merchandise for use in 
the treaty, arrived at Marietta on the 14th of June. Tlie next 
day the boats went up the Muskingum to the Forks of the River, 
about sixty miles, to prepare to build a Council House. The 
latter part of the month a party of thirty men was sent up to 
the Forks with provisions and presents. On the night of July 
12, a party of Indians attacked those who were guarding 
the stores, killing four and wounding several others. In con- 
sequence of this. Major McDowell was sent up with a command 
to bring the goods back to Marietta. This affair delayed the 
treaty until the following December. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 523 

The 4th of July, 1788, was a memorable day for Marietta, 
for there was held the first celebration of the Declaration of 
Independence in the great Northwest. The day was ushered in 
with the firing of the guns of Fort Harmar. There was a pro- 
cession of the citizens and the soldiery, and a public dinner which 
was spread under a long bower built of intertwined oak and 
maple boughs near the North Point at the mouth of the Muskin- 
gum. The wealth of the rivers and forests was drawn upon to 
enrich the feast. Among the delicacies served was a pike weighing 
one hundred pounds. Patriotic toasts were given and an eloquent 
oration delivered by Judge Varnum. Lamenting the absence of 
his Excellency, Governor St. Clair, " upon this joyous occasion," 
with uplifted hands he prays, " May he soon arrive ; " and then, 
turning first towards one and then towards the other, he thus 
apostrophizes the all unconscious rivers flowing on either side : 
" Thou, gently flowing Ohio, whose surface, as conscious of thy 
unequalled majesty, reflecteth no image but the grandeur of the 
impending heaven, bear him, O, bear him safely to this anxious 
spot. And thou, beautiful, transparent Muskingum, swell at the 
moment of his approach, and reflect no objects but of pleasure 
and delight." Thus, in the fertile soil of Ohio, by a Rhode 
Island man, the first seeds of Western eloquence were sown. 

June 15, Major Doughty went up the river with a small 
detachment of troops, to demolish Fort Mcintosh and to escort 
Governor St. Clair to Marietta. On the 9th of July, Gov- 
ernor St. Clair arrived at Fort Harmar and was received by the 
garrison and the citizens with due honors ; but history is silent 
as to the " reflections " of the rivers on this occasion, and fails 
to state whether " the beautiful, transparent JNIuskingum " 
swelled at his approach. Tuesday, July 15, was another 
memorable day for Marietta, for in the new settlement, with 
appropriate ceremonies, civil government was duly established 
as provided in the "Ordinance of 1787 for the government of 
the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio." 
Landing from the twelve-oared barge in which he had been rowed 
over from the Fort, Governor St. Clair made his public entry 
into the Bower attended by the Territorial Judges, ]\lessrs. Par- 
sons and Varnum, and by the Secretary, Winthrop Sargent. 
Here he was received by Rufus Putnam and the assembled 



524 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

citizens " with the most sincere and unreserved congratulations." 
After a brief acknowledgment by the Governor of the welcome 
accorded him, Secretary Sargent, as his minutes state, read the 
" Ordinance of the Honorable Congress for the government of 
the Territory, the Commissions of the Governor, the Honor- 
able Judges, Samuel Holden Parsons and James Mitchell Var- 
num and the Secretary's, after which his Excellency addressed 
the people assembled." In reply to his Excellency, a formal 
address was presented by General Putnam in behalf of the 
citizens. Such was the humble beginning of the five great States 
of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, into which 
the Territory of the Northwest, then an almost unexplored 
wilderness, was subsequently divided, all of which, pursuant to 
the Ordinance, were now included in a single District for the 
purposes of temporary government. 

The first duty of the Governor and Judges under the Ordi- 
nance, was to prepare a Civil and Criminal Code for the Terri- 
tory. The Ordinance provides that " the Governor and Judges, 
or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the District 
such laws of the original States, criminal and civil, as may be 
necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the District, 
and report them to Congress from time to time, which laws shall 
be in force in the District until the organization of the General 
Assembly therein, unless disapproved by Congress. For the pre- 
vention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted or made 
shall have force in all parts of the District." The question 
immediately arose as to whether they were confined in their legis- 
lation to the letter of existing enactments, or could modify them 
to meet changed conditions. The Governor, giving a narrow 
significance to the word " laws " in the foregoing clause of the 
Ordinance, insisted that the statutes of the original States, so 
far as adopted, must be verbatim, else they would be enacting 
instead of adopting laws ; but the Judges, with a clearer and 
more practical comprehension of the business entrusted to them, 
replied to the Governor's question as to " the precise meaning 
which they affixed to the term," that " by ' laws,' is meant the 
legal Codes or Systems of the original States in their general 
nature and spirit ; " — in other words, that it was their duty to 
adopt the spirit and not necessarily the letter of the existing 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 525 

laws. In a letter to Joshua Coit, written in December, 1794, the 
Governor gives the following account of his "battle" with the 
Judges and its result: — 

It appeared to me very clearly that the temporary legislature 
had no power to make laws, but merely to adopt any of the Acts of 
the original States that might be suited to the circumstances of the 
Territory. The Judges, Parsons and Varnum, were decidedly of a 
contrary opinion, and the point was battled, both verbally and in 
writing, for a considerable time. . . . Considering that they 
were both men of the law, my conclusion was that, how strong soever 
my conviction was, my construction must be erroneous, and I finally 
did give way, upon their consenting to use the word adopted instead 
of enacted. After the death of these gentlemen, and others being 
appointed, I endeavored to bring them to what I conceived to be 
the design of Congress ; but I met with the same opinion, and an 
equal degree of obstinacy in and from them. . . . The concur- 
rent sentiments of two sets of Judges, all of them men of the law, 
put an end to any further objections on my part, and though not 
convinced, I supposed that I must have been in error. From that 
time the style of our laws changed from adopted and published, to 
enacted and made. 

In assuming the right to make needed alterations in the exist- 
ing statutes adopted by them, it is evident that the Governor 
and Judges, if they exceeded, did not abuse their authority, for 
the Territorial Legislature, when it came into being several years 
later, ratified all their enactments except two which had been 
repealed, thus rendering a high tribute to the value of their 
work. Another question arose as to the construction of the 
phrase, "the Governor and Judges, or a majority of them." 
The Judges contended that the words, "a majority of them," 
applied to the Governor and Judges sitting as a legislative body, 
and that the assent of two judges or of the Governor and one 
judge, was necessary to pass any measure. The Governor, on 
the other hand, claimed an absolute veto, insisting that these 
words referred to the Judges alone, and that while a bill might 
be passed by the vote of the Governor and one judge, it could 
not be passed by the vote of the two Judges without his assent. 
The punctuation of the phrase supported the contention of the 
Judges, as did also the fact that the Ordinance gave no one in 



526 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

express terms the right to veto the action of the Governor and 
Judges ; but the Governor argued, " that though it was true the 
punctuation would favor the construction the Judges seemed 
incHned to put upon the phrase, he beheved it was the true sense 
and that Congress intended the assent of the Governor should 
be necessary to all laws adopted during the temporary stage of 
government, as well as to all laws framed by the General Assem- 
bly after its organization." The matter was finally referred 
to Congress, which sustained St. Clair's construction, probably, 
not so much on the phraseology of the law, as to make the situa- 
tion analogous to what it would be upon the election of a Ter- 
ritorial Legislature, when, b}' the terms of the Ordinance, the 
Governor would be given an absolute veto upon all the legisla- 
tion of the Territor3\ The published correspondence between 
the Governor and Judges as to their respective powers under the 
Ordinance, shows at times considerable warmth, but their per- 
sonal relations were alwaj's cordial, and, as the records show, 
they labored earnestly together in laying the foundations of 
civil government in the Territory. 

On the 26th of July, the County of Washington was created 
by an order of the Governor, and embraced within its limits 
nearly all the eastern half of the present State of Ohio. On the 
2d of September, the County officers having been duly 
appointed, the County Court was opened with a degree of pomp 
and ceremony quite unusual since in Western frontier courts. 
As described by the biographer of St. Clair, " the citizens. 
Governor St. Clair and other Territorial officers, and military 
from Fort Harmar, being assembled at the Point, a procession 
was formed, and, as became the occasion. Colonel Sproat, Sheriff, 
with drawn sword and wand of office led the march up a path 
that had been cut through the forest to the Hall in the north- 
west Blockhouse of Campus Martins, where the whole counter- 
marched, and the Judges, Putnam and Tupper, took their seats 
on the high bench. Prayer was offered by Rev. Manasseh 
Cutler, a director of the Company then on a visit to the Colony, 
after which the Commissions of the Judges, Clerk and Sheriff 
were read, and the opening proclaimed in deep tones by Colonel 
Sproat, in these words : " O, yes, a Court is opened for the 
administration of even handed justice, to the poor and to the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 527 

rich, to the guilty and the innocent, without respect of persons, 
none to be punished without trial by their peers, and then in 
pursuance of the law and evidence in the case." 

The following from General Parsons to his wife relates to 
affairs in Marietta and troubles with the Indians : — 

Marietta, July 20, 1788. 

My Dear. — I imagine your letters must have failed on the way, 
as I am sure you have written me more than twice since I left you, 
the last of which I have answered. At the same time I received one 
from Enoch and another from Lucia, and since that one from Wil- 
liam. It is to gratify my own feelings in bringing my dear family 
often to mind and to assure you of my unalterable attachment, that 
I so frequently write you. We for the first time have a school house, 
used by the Rev. William Breck, who, I expect, will remain with 
us until Mr. Cutler arrives. The school teacher is also here, but 
few families have yet arrived. This institution will not open until 
the Fall, when we have reason to expect a considerable reinforce- 
ment of families. Many persons have already gone and others are 
going, to return in the Fall with their families, and numbers are 
now on the road and others hutted in Washington and Westmore- 
land Counties until houses are built for their accomodation. I shall 
continue in my hut until I know your intention of joining me in this 
country. Should you determine to make me so happy, I shall im- 
mediately set about accomodating you in a situation more beautiful 
than you ever before experienced. Our city's name, in honor of the 
Queen of France, is composed of her two Christian names — Marie 
Antoinette. The Governor is here. He appears pleased with the 
situation and the people equally pleased with him. This will be the 
seat of Government, the Governor having given us pretty clear inti- 
mations of his views on that hand. 

The treaty is postponed; the stores had been sent up the River 
about eighty miles to the place where the treaty was to have been 
held, under the guard of twenty men. About that number of the 
banditti from the Chippeway tribe made a sudden attack on the 
guard, but retreated finding nothing to plunder. In this affray three 
men were killed and one wounded. The Indians had two killed and 
one wounded and were repulsed, since which six Indians of that 
nation were made prisoners and recently lodged in the provost at 
Fort Harmar and the stores all returned to the Fort. The Governor 
has sent a messenger to the Indian tribes remonstrating against this 
violation of faith and demanding immediate satisfaction, and I think 



528 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

there is a prospect of this proving very much to our advantage, but 
it must necessarily create delay in settling the amount of damage 
that has been done by the Indians this season (except the attack on 
the guard) within three hundred miles of this settlement. Some has 
been done and more reported to have been done in Kentucky. In 
short, it is impossible to conjecture with any degree of certainty 
what part of the representations of Indian depredations ought to be 
believed. If you take two-thirds as utterly devoid of truth and be- 
lieve one-half the rest, you will have a pretty clear idea by relying 
upon your faith. I also wait to know the issue of matters at the East. 
The holders and agents have ordered all shares (of the Ohio Com- 
pany) forfeited which are not paid by the first of next June. My 
sons must see that business closed immediately and Enoch must bring 
a receipt in full for ninety-nine shares, including the shares of Mr. 
Browne and Piatt. This being done will leave in my hands a 
sufficient number of shares without purchasing. They may, there- 
fore, omit to make any purchases at present, as this will bring them 
much cheaper than to buy of those that hold them. If the persons 
named as purchasers have not paid, let them borrow the securities 
and not fail to pay in and send me the receipt as soon as possible. 
I wrote in my last that it would not be necessary for Enoch to come 
on soon, but the arrangements will be such that I fear he will lose 
his office if he does not come this Fall. If he should come, let him 
attend to my former letters. I do not write him because I do not 
know but what he is on the road. 

With my most hearty wishes for your prospects and my love to 
our dear children and the family, I must close this and am 

Yours affectionately, 

Saml. H. Parsons. 

The Rev. Mr. Brack mentioned by Parsons has the credit of 
having, July 20, 1788, preached the first sermon in English, 
northwest of the Ohio. July 16, General Parsons Avrote to 
Manasseh Cutler at Ipswich, Massachusetts, regarding the con- 
dition of affairs in the new settlement: — 

Muskingum, 16th July, 1788. 
Dear Sir. — I received your kind letter of the 21st of April this 
morning, on the arrival of Mr. Rogers and others. We shall be 
happy to receive you in our settlement as soon as you can make it 
convenient; indeed it is necessary you should be here as early as 
possible. Some different arrangements in the surveys must take 
place, I believe, and it will be proper that as large a representation 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 529 

of the Proprietors should be present when any material alterations 
of the former system are made. 

The beauty of situation, fertility of soil, and goodness of climate 
are equal to our most sanguine expectations ; industry and perse- 
verance will soon place us in very easy circumstances. Our prin- 
cipal obstruction to settlement arises from unfounded reports of 
danger, fabricated and industriously spread to alarm the fears of 
the people. More than one hundred have halted in Westmoreland 
and Washington Counties, and several have returned home, occa- 
sioned by reports, in almost every instance, wholly void of truth. 

We have suffered no insults from the Indians, but they are with 
us almost every week, and profess great friendship for the Yan- 
kees, who they distinguish from the settlers on the Virginia shore; 
yet they have no government but that of influence from advice of 
their chiefs. We cannot be sure no partial injuries will be attempted 
by the ungoverned part of the tribes; we have, therefore, hitherto 
kept ourselves in a state of defense, so that no attempt can be made 
but where the whole body of the inhabitants may be brought to repel 
the enemy within an hour. Our working parties are enjoined to take 
their arms into the field, and a small patrol is every day with them. 
This service is done in rotation, and will be continued as a caution- 
ary measure, tho' I have little reason to suspect any attack will ever 
be made. The Indians, themselves, remark in their towns that we 
settle compactly, and not in the scattered manner in which the fron- 
tiers have been generally settled, and no attempt can be made with- 
out meeting the whole force in the settlement, as well as the soldiers 
of the garrison. If we continue to exercise a prudent caution, I 
believe we are in very little danger. 

An unlucky event has retarded the treaty. A few days since, a 
small party of the Ottawa Indians attacked a guard at the Falls of 
the Muskingum (about 80 miles up the river) who were stationed to 
protect the provisions sent up for the treaty, in which affray we lost 
three men ; two Indians were killed and one wounded, and they were 
repulsed. The Delawares however, came in immediately, and re- 
main to protect the stores and treaty. The Governor, in consequence 
of this violation of faith, has ordered the stores down, and sent to 
demand satisfaction for the insult. This appears to me likely to 
protract the business, a very proper measure and such as will in its 
issue do us much good. 

Whilst I am writing, I received your two other letters. I will en- 
deavor to answer all your questions. They are important questions. 
I believe nobody will lose their nightcaps, if we behave in our set- 



530 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

tlement as we ought to^ and as I believe we shall. No magazine of 
provisions is yet made here by which people may be supplied in any 
considerable quantities, but they generally supply in the upper coun- 
try, though I think it economy and in every point prudent such sup- 
ply should be made, when I know it may so easily be done without 
loss to the Company. This and some other encouraging proposi- 
tions I shall make on the 22 inst, to which time our meeting is 
adj ourned. 

When I came no cover was provided for any person. We have 
built our huts, and the blockhouses are now begun, one being partly 
raised this day (the 19th). The Company have ordered four houses 
to be built, under the care of the directors and in their disposal. One 
will doubtless be for the Governor, one for the Company's use, one 
for the public offices and the other for accomodating the instruction 
of the settlement. On the completion of these, you will doubtless 
be well accomodated. You are wanted — many things are necessary 
to be done. Rome was not built in a day. We have some difficulties 
to encounter which require a persevering mind. I wish you here. 
I think families determined to sacrifice a temporary convenience to 
great prospects, should hasten to this place. I am pleased with Mr. 
Rogers, but your wishes are in your own power. You are the appoint- 
ing power and I never wish to make the mode of education, or the 
instructor under such mode, more in the power of a town-meeting 
than I wish government or the laws to be. 

You are very much wanted. I wish you here. 

I am &c., 

19th July. — Our city is called Mari-etta. Saml. H. Parsons. 
To Rev. Manasseh Cutler. 

The Mr. Rogers spoken of by Parsons, had been sent out to 
the Colony as a teacher by Dr. Cutler. Before this letter had 
reached the Doctor at his home in Ipswich, Mass., he had com- 
menced (July 21) his journey to Marietta, where he arrived 
on the 19th of August. His diary in which are recorded his 
observations and the incidents of his visit, furnishes a vivid 
picture of life in the Colony. His voyage down the Ohio was 
made in a species of galley propelled by oars, which carried 
forty-eight passengers, besides cattle and freight. The pas- 
sengers divided themselves into five reliefs for rowing at night, 
but Cutler and General Tupper who was with him, excused them- 
selves from working their passage. It happened on this voyage 
that the screw was applied for the first time to the propulsion of 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 531 

vessels on western waters. Tupper had described this substitute 
for oars to Cutler, who was so much taken with the scheme that, 
as he wa-ites, he innnediatelj " constructed a machine in the form 
of a screw with short blades and placed it in the stern of a boat, 
which we turned with a crank. It succeeded admirably and I 
think it is a very useful invention." This is the same device used 
by David Bushnell to propel his torpedo boat, with which 
General Parsons in 1776 attempted to blow up the British man- 
of-war, " Asia." This invention Tupper had probably seen. 

Upon their arrival in the Muskingum, as the diary reads, 
"We were very politely received by the Honorable Judges, 
General Putnam and our friends. General Putnam invited me 
to his lodgings, which is a marquee. I drank tea with General 
Parsons." The next day the Directors of the Ohio Company 
gave a dinner to the Governor and officers of the garrison, at 
the Great Hall in the Campus Martins. Having gone to the 
Fort with Secretary Sargent to pay his compliments to his 
Excellency, Dr. Cutler was invited by the Governor to remain 
and go over with him. The diary briefly describes the function, 
which evidently was conducted with all possible state. " We 
came over in the barge to the Hall with his Excellency, the ladies 
and the officers. Barge rowed by twelve oars ; Sargent in the 
stern ; the word ' Congress ' painted on the blade of each oar ; 
well disciphned in rowing. We landed up the Muskingum, 
opposite the Campus Martins; a handsome dinner with punch 
and wine; the Governor and ladies from the garrison very 
sociable ; Miss Rowena Tupper and the two Mrs. Goodale, dined 
and fifty-five gentlemen ; returned in the barge to the Point." 
Cutler was also present at the inauguration of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas, opened it with prayer and, after adjournment, dined 
with the Judges and Governor at Fort Harmar. " Genteel 
dinner ; fine fruit ; Mrs. Hannar a fine woman." 

The Governor, pursuant to the instructions of Congress, had 
invited the Indians to a general conference at the Fort pre- 
liminary to making a treaty, and at this time they were just 
beginning to arrive. Cutler complains that when he came in at 
night, he found them very numerous about his quarters, "the 
squaws mostly drunk, the Indians sober." "We have had them 
to dine with us almost every day since I have been at the Point, 



532 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

principally Delawares, Wj^andots, Shawanese and Senecas." 
The usual menu seems to have been, venison, wild pigeons, 
squirrel-pies, catfish and such vegetables and wild fruits as were 
obtainable. In his explorations with Parsons and Putnam, he 
visits a large part of the tract occupied by the Colony. He is 
very much interested in the remains of the ancient earthworks', 
which he describes as including within their walls from twenty to 
forty acres, and as having gates and covered ways, and contain- 
ing mounds, some conical, some oblong, ranging from nine to 
thirty feet in height, and estimates, from an examination of the 
growing trees and decaying stumps, that their age cannot be less 
than a thousand years. He is greatly impressed by the produc- 
tiveness of the soil, the excellence of the gardens, the plentiful- 
ness of grapes and small fruits, and the abundance and variety 
of fish and game ; and he notes with astonishment the size of the 
trees, some over forty feet in circumference, and the magnitude 
of the cornfields, in which one could " as soon be lost as in a 
cedar swamp in a cloudy day." Foggy nights and mornings, 
sudden and heavy rains by which he was often " doused " and " 
several times " almost drowned," together with abounding mud, 
appear to have characterized his visit ; but, as an offset, all the 
women seemed bright and charming. Miss Symmes, who was 
destined to become the wife of one President and the grandmother 
of another, was " a very well accomplished young lady ; " Mrs. 
Harmar, the wife of the first General-in-Chief of the United 
States Army, was " a fine woman," and Mrs. Captain McCurdy 
was " very agreeable." 

Francis Vigo, a dealer in peltries along the western waters 
from St. Louis to Pittsburgh, a Spaniard by birth, living at St. 
Louis, then a Spanish Province, happened up the River just at 
this time on a trading voyage to Pittsburgh. Dr. Cutler, pleased 
with Monsieur's " fine large boat, with keel and rudder and ton 
oars, cabin and awning ; good accomodations," engaged 
passage with him up the river and, September 9, took leave 
of Marietta. 

The following letter from the General to his wife, was written 
upon learning the death of her brother. Captain Elias Mather, 
the preceding August, at his home in Lyme, Connecticut: — 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 533 

Marietta, October 18th, 1788. 
Two days ago I received your kind letter, my dear Hetty, of the 
30th of August, with one from William and another from Enoch, 
dated in September, after it had traveled to Petersburgh in Virginia 
and back again by mistaking Petersburgh for Pittsburg. Here I 
wish to inform you that I suppose my letters lodged at the War-Office 
are still there, as I have never received one through that channel; 
those covered to Mr. Baldwin have come on safely and in good sea- 
son. My heart is grieved at the sorrowful tidings of your brother, 
but, my dear, this life is but a passage to a far more durable one; 
we are in the hands of a kind, a wise and all powerful God. Under 
his dispensations let us patiently submit, in a firm belief that he dis- 
poses all events to the best and greatest good of the creatures he has 
made. Let us rejoice in his goodness and resign ourselves to his 
government. I own I feel more my daily dependence on a Superin- 
tending Providence than I have before realized, and a resigned 
state of mind to His will and government, which I believe to be the 
greatest state of happiness we can enjoy in this world. For many 
years you have been my companion in the multiplied troubles which 
have fallen to my lot, but rest assured, my dear, that however much 
I may most ardently wish your company in my future walks of life, 
how much soever my happiness will be diminished by your absence, 
I will never compel your choice, not will I omit anything in my power 
to render you comfortable in the country of your choice. My duty 
and the interests of my children keep me here. If I were favored 
with one of my daughters, I could be as happy as your absence 
would permit. But this also shall be left to your choice. 

Yours faithfully, 

S. H. Parsons. 

Dr. William Samuel Johnson having been chosen to represent 
the State of Connecticut in the Senate of the United States, 
General Parsons writes him the following letter of 
congratulation : — 

Marietta, November 2Jf, 1788. 
My dear Sir. — I should do violence to my own feelings, my 
worthy friend, if I should suppress my congratulations on the hon- 
orable appointment lately conferred on you by the country which 
gave you birth. When I reflect that merit may sometimes rise tri- 
umphant over envy and persecution, and that the men who have 
pursued with malignant hatred to bonds and banishment, a character 
more honest and steadfast than themselves, are compelled to claim 



534 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

their citizen in another State and heap upon him the testimonies of 
their esteem, I feel a degree of satisfaction not to be expressed. 
My personal regard to you has, you believe and I know, interested 
me in the vicissitudes of your fortune since our first acquaintance. 
If at any time I have done what might wound your feelings, dire 
necessity under my then situation must be my only excuse. The 
goodness of your heart has buried this transaction that a mention of 
it has never escaped your lips; at least, your kindness has never 
suffered you to uj^braid me, and the interest you have taken in my 
prosperity, has convinced me that no latent seeds of dissatisfaction 
rest in your breast. That you may continue to possess the confi- 
dence of your country so justly placed, will ever be my most ardent 
wish, and that I may deserve the friendship you have long honored 
me with, will be my constant endeavor. 

You know I am somewhat prone to enthusiasm, and therefore, a 
particular description of the beauties and excellency of our country 
will be subject to some suspicion coming from me, but to assure you 
that the beauty of situation, salubrity of air, luxuriance of soil and 
prospects of ease give me perfect satisfaction and answer my most 
sanguine expectations, will be pleasing information, yet many things 
are still to be done to render us all the benefits we hope to derive 
from this excellent country. The habits of an old world are in some 
degree to be corrected in forming a new one of the old materials. 
The different local prejudices are to be done away and a medium 
fallen upon which may reconcile all. This, so far as respects re- 
ligious opinions, which have been as fruitful a source of ill neigh- 
borhood and persecuting dispositions as any in the world, I believe 
we have placed on a satisfactory ground. We compel no man to 
profess himself under the influence of any particular religion. We 
oblige every man to attend military duty at the door of the church 
every Sunday, and when military exercises are over, we attend the 
public worship of the Supreme Being. Those who do not choose 
to attend may withdraw, but custom, that wicked tyrant, generally 
makes a full assembly. We permit no one to disturb any person in 
his worship, and servile labor is forbidden on the Sabbath. Jews 
and Gentiles may worship in their own way ; nor do we approve of 
any endeavors to establish one denomination of Christians over an- 
other. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians of every kind, Presbyte- 
rians, Baptists, Quakers &c. &c., are equally received, and their 
preachers congregate us in one assembly as they happen to come on. 
Regulations of government may create greater difficulties. We may 
adojDt, but not make laws. This, if literally adhered to, will create 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 535 

a code of laws as discordant in style and substance as can be con- 
ceived, but should the idea be that we may vary the form to suit our 
own circumstances, preserving the substance, we may do better. This 
we have hitherto practiced upon. 

The constitution of the Country provides no way for the admini- 
stration of government on the death or occasional absence of the 
Governor. Should this be left in this state .^ We had thought of 
publishing a law on this subject, but we cannot yet agree. Brother 
Varnum refuses his assent to vest this power in the Judges unless 
I agree to a clause expressly declaring that there is no priority be- 
tween him and me (being appointed in one day) and that in con- 
ducting the Court and in every exercise of authority there is a rota- 
tion between him and me. This I shall never agree to. I suppose 
myself primus infer pares, and have no right to cede this priority 
to any man. Would it not be better for Congress to make some 
declaratory resolve on this matter to prevent difficulties ? 

Our Governor renders himself agreeable to every one except my 
brother (Varnum) whose view, perhaps, may not be limited to his 
present station. I am satisfied in my present appointment, but 
should a vacancy happen in the first office, I shall rely upon your 
opposing my claim to those of either of my brethren, and support- 
ing me in opposition to them and most other candidates. Some I 
should not object to. 

The Indian Treaty is yet in suspense. They refuse to come here 
and the Governor refuses to go to them. The issue is uncertain. I 
think with discretionary powers the Governor could settle all matters 
quietly, but confined, as I suppose he is, a war must be the issue, 
which, though it will probably terminate favorably, will be more 
expensive than a purchase of the lands as we want them. But in 
present circumstances, I don't see but that they must be driven away 
and dispersed, if they refuse to treat. The Connecticut lands are 
inferior to none in this country, and I think it would be much to 
their interest to pursue the example of Pennsylvania and give the 
Indians some small sum. Two or three thousand dollars would 
effectually remove all opposition on the part of the Indians and con- 
ciliate them to the Connecticut interest. If this be done, I can sell 
in the counties of Pennsylvania and Virginia on this side the moun- 
tains, so that a settlement would take place next year which will 
open the way to rapid sales both in and out of the State. If Con- 
necticut should appoint Commissioners, I think General Richard 
Butler would best serve their interests. If they see fit to appoint 
me with him, I will do what I can to serve them. Perhaps they may 



536 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

add Colonel Meigs of whom they have a good opinion. Commis- 
sioners in the Western country will save a great expense^ besides 
their better acquaintance with the Indians and their concerns. 
I am^ my dear Sir^ with the greatest esteem 

Your obedt. servt., 
To Dr. William Samuel Johnson. Saml. H. Parsons. 

The following is from Parsons to his wife : — 

Marietta, December IJf, 1788. 

My Dear. — Your very welcome letter by Mr. Miller. I received 
last night. I shall renew the idea of a building to accommodate you 
and the children. The peaches, asparagus and rosebuds shall be put 
into the ground to-morrow. As for asparagus, we have it in perfec- 
tion. The apple seeds and apple trees I shall set out in my orchard 
this week. The Indians arrived at the treaty yesterday. All the 
nations that were expected are as follows : — Senecas, Delawares, 
Wyandots, some of the Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawotomies and 
Sioux — three tribes have not arrived. The Mohawks, part of the 
Cayugas and Onondagas have refused to come in and have returned 
home. I believe all things will be amicably settled within a week or 
two. 

I shall write Enoch if I have time, otherwise I shall enclose a 
statement of my account with the Treasury and a copy of the 
minutes. Unless my stay should be necessary on account of Judge 
Varnum's sickness, he being a confirmed consumptive, as is believed, 
I shall go up the River with the Governor when the treaty ends and 
shall come over the mountains and see some of you in Pennsylvania. 

My most aifectionate love constantly attends you and all our chil- 
dren. That you may be happy is the prayer of 

Yours sincerely, 

Saml. H. Parsons. 

The treaty referred to in Parsons' letter had been delayed for 
months by the failure of the Indians to attend. Several of the 
principal chiefs had arrived during Dr. Cutler's visit in Septem- 
ber, but the main body — about two hundred — did not appear 
until December 13. On the 15th, the Council was opened. 
The Indians were found to be at odds amongst themselves. Days 
were spent in consultations with the Governor and powwows in 
their camps. At last, on the 29th, a Grand Council was held 
at which the old Wyandot Chief, Shandotto, presented with 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 537 

great force the Indians' case and demanded that the Ohio be 
made the boundary Hne. The Governor refused this and insisted 
upon a confirmation of the treaties of Fort Stanwix, Fort Mc- 
intosh and Fort Finney. The Council reassembled January 
6, when the Governor endeavored to show the Indians that they 
had forfeited their lands by siding with the British in the late 
war. It was not until the 9th that a conclusion was reached, 
when two treaties were made — one with the Six Nations confirm- 
ing the treaty of Fort Stanwix, and the second with the Western 
Tribes ratifying the treaties of Forts Mcintosh and Finney. 
On the 13th, the goods provided for the Indians were distributed 
and all left for home apparently well satisfied. 

December 17, Governor St. Clair issued his proclamation 
appointing the twenty-fifth day of December, ,1788, as a day of 
" solemn thanksgiving and praise." In the absence of a clergy- 
man, the duty of preaching the customary sermon fell upon Gen- 
eral Parsons. It is this sermon which Parsons so modestly refers 
to in his letter to Cutler, and which he sends to his wife, as he 
says, " to confirm her faith." His mention, as one of the principal 
subjects for thanksgiving, of "the peaceful conduct of our 
neighboring nations, who, from a state of savage ferocity, have 
hitherto quietly submitted to our possessing their country," is 
not so bad for a soldier. The following is the sermon — the first 
Thanksgiving Sermon preached in the Northwest Territory : — 

Nature through all her works speaks the being of a God, and 
unassisted reason dictates the propriety of rendering Him a tribute 
of praise and thanksgiving for the daily instances of his care and 
Providence, to meet and recount His mercies, deprecate His judge- 
ments and to supplicate His future blessings. So forcibly has this 
truth been impressed upon all classes of men in every age, that per- 
haps a single instance is not to be found in all nations of the world, 
from the most refined stages of civil society to the most unenlight- 
ened tribes of savages, where a people have not assembled at stated 
times jointly to celebrate the praises of the Great Author of all 
their benefits; that in these acts of solemn and public worship (how- 
ever obscured in fable, or enveloped in mystical jargon), their 
hearts might be warmed with unfeigned love to the Author of their 
being and all their blessings, in whom the heathen world acknow- 
ledge we live and move and have our being and who is so nigh unto 



538 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

every one of us, that they may in obedience to his will promote 
a Spirit of mutual Benevolence, learn to commiserate each others 
frailties and throw a veil over their neighbors' faults. 

And would it not be too great presumption for us to say, that the 
sincere exhibitions of gratitude to God, in whatever mode we demon- 
strate it, is not acceptable to Him who judges righteous judgement 
•and cannot be misguided by false appearances. 

But how much more happy is our case than that of those who by 
the glimmering light of a darkened understanding, faintly discern 
the duties they owe to the great first cause, and groping in the maze 
of perplexing errors, scarcely perceive the only rule of conduct to 
each other which renders life agreeable and happy. For to us a 
child is born ; to us a son is given ; His name is Wonderful, Counsel- 
lor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. 

This everlasting Father, this all discerning Counsellor, has dis- 
pelled the mists which clouded our understandings, has clearly 
pointed out to us the road to felicity, and by His genial influences 
has sweetened all our walks in life, awaking to action those senti- 
ments of universal Philanthropy which soften the heart, warm the 
affections and mutually endear us to one another; and, by subduing 
our vicious propensities, becomes emphatically the Prince of Peace; 
and how ought we to rejoice that the government is on his shoulders. 
To celebrate this event and to offer up our fervant and devout 
thanks for the many unmerited favors of the last year, to provoke 
one another to mutual love and charity, by reminding ourselves of 
the favor of our God, is the proper business of this day; and if our 
hearts are duly affected with the events this day is designed to com- 
memorate, we shall be ready with pious men in former days to cry 
out in transports of almost enthusiastic joy. While I live I will 
praise the Lord, I will sing praises unto my God while I have a 
being; now suffer thy servant to depart in peace for mine eyes have 
seen thy salvation, peace on earth and good will to all men. 

Custom is sometimes a plea for assuming a control of our conduct. 
The habits of many people ought certainly to be complied with 
when no proper reason can be found for changing them. Call it 
national honor, a pride in excelling or by whatever name you please, 
a conformity to the manners of our country greatly tends to cement 
that friendship which sweetens all the enjoyments of life; while an 
affected endeavor unnecessarily to change them wounds the feelings 
of our neighbors and shows a versability of character not to be 
wished for. National pride and national vanity are distinct ideas 
and founded on very different principles. The former has many 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 539 

branches^ none more absurd than the pride of being a member of 
the only true church or professing the only true religion. 'Tis no 
matter whether a man professes the true religion whilst he believes 
it; 'tis the same to him, and this spirit casts out every other to eternal 
damnation. But the religion taught by Jesus Christ shows us we are 
not to pass sentence so lightly on one another; the God who is to 
judge us is a God of clemency as well as justice, and our Integrity, 
Candor and Zeal in serving Him will have their weight, if we do not 
take the nearest and best way. Yet if we lead a life of uniform 
virtue and holiness, we must be in a road which will bring us to the 
same end. The hope of salvation is grounded on the real Religion 
of a man and not on his Theology. He who examines and purifies 
his heart and makes the honor and service of his God the motive of 
his conduct, may be truly devout in all religions. Our contempt of 
other religions may in part arise from our ignorance of them. The 
Pagans have affirmed that the Christians worshipped an Ass with 
claws, but they made no scruple of murder and threatened to set the 
whole earth and the stars on fire. The Turks believe in the unity 
of the God-Head, yet are reproached by Christians as worshipping 
inanimate stars. The Arabs, persuaded of the infallibility of the 
Caliph, laugh at the Tartars for believing their Lama to be immortal. 
The inhabitants of Mount Batel believe every man to be a saint who 
before his death ate a roasted cuckoo. Alas, how short-sighted are 
the wisest of us — how little reason to set our opinions up as stand- 
ards of truth to which all must subscribe or be damned. The blessed 
Author of our Religion has not taught us so. 

Therefore, in comjDliance with the manner of our Country, I will 
name you the 103d Psalm, 2d verse, as the subject of our further 
meditations on this day. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not 
all his benefits. This Psalm contains an exhortation to praise the 
Lord, from arguments derived from benefits we receive from him. 
If we take a retrospective view of the state of man, from whatever 
cause it may be supposed to arise, we find his mind perplexed with 
labyrinths of difficulties from which no human help could relieve 
him. After the strictest search of human wisdom, few truths neces- 
sary to the perfection of our happiness were clearly understood, and 
from the prevalence of our ungoverned passions, those virtues were 
seldom practiced. The veil of darkness which shaded our under- 
standing, gave us but a faint view of that straight and narrow path 
to unceasing felicity, in which few could walk, and which, though 
promising, with the mouth of unerring truth, the highest happiness 
to the weary traveller who perseveres to the end, j^et is encumbered 



540 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

with thorns and overrun with briers too difficult to be surmounted 
by persons governed by their passions and too much in love with 
sensual enjoyments. But the advent of the blessed Author of our 
religion has thrown off the veil and taught us by new lights to steer 
our course, and has published to all men a system of moral conduct 
far exceeding the most refined ideas of the more enlightened 
Heathen, and founded the basis of all our happiness on love to God 
and love to one another. A new law, saith He, I give to you, that 
you may love one another, and by this shall all men know you are 
my disciples, if you love one another. A new law does He say ? No, 
'tis the eternal law of the living God, but so far obscured as to be 
almost forgotten. A rule to love those who love us and hate those 
who hate us, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, had long been 
adopted in place of it. This eternal law is now again promulgated 
with new sanctions and further lights and therefore becomes as a 
new law. 

It is He who takes our sins upon Himself if we comply with his 
commands, and His yoke is easy and His burden light. He speaks 
pardon and peace to our souls. His grace breaks the power of sin, 
removes the guilt and curse of sin and turns our love for it to an 
utter hatred of it. It is not for me to so limit the extent of His 
pardoning Grace and Mercy, but he has compassion on our infirmi- 
ties, knows our wants and is always present at His Father's throne, 
our Advocate and Intercessor; and no one thing which he asks is 
refused Him, and not one of all which God hath given Him will be 
lost. What event can be more interesting to mankind, and what can 
more demand our songs of praise and most sincere and devout thanks. 
But, my friends, we are not left to praise God for this inestimable 
blessing alone — for this particular purpose has this day been set 
apart by most Christian Churches — but to recount His particular 
mercies, elevates our affections and by increasing in our minds a 
sense of His care and kindness more engages our love and assimi- 
lates us to the great Author of our benefits, who is Love. This field 
is too extensive for me to traverse. Were we to search for causes 
which have united us in one mind to leave our native land to seek 
the retreats of an uncultivated wilderness ; if we reflect on the dan- 
gers and almost insurmountable difficulties which have attended our 
progress to our desired haven — enough to have discouraged the bold- 
est adventurer had they been previously in view — ; if we consider 
the peaceful conduct of our neighboring nations, who from a state of 
savage ferocity have hitherto quietly submitted to our possessing the 
country; if we advert to the state of almost universal health enjoyed 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 541 

in our uncomfortable habitations and the bounties of Heaven with 
wliich we have been so plentifully supplied, in a country new and 
distant from settlements from which we expected to derive our sub- 
sistence, we must join in declaring, hitherto hath the Lord helped 
us, it is His work and marvelous in our eyes. 

With the holy Psalmist let us join in praising our God and let us 
not forget His benefits, for He forgiveth all our iniquities and 
healeth our diseases; He redeemeth our lives from destruction 
and crowneth us with His loving kindness and tender mercies; He 
satisfieth our mouths with good things, so that our youth is renewed 
like the Eagles; He executeth righteousness and judgement for all 
that are oppressed; He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor 
rewarded us according to our iniquities. We might here profitably 
employ our minds contemplating the designs of Providence in estab- 
lishing this settlement in this distant land, in uniting our minds 
in so much harmony, in bringing together a body of people free 
from those perplexing dissensions which too much injure the cause 
of religion, and so far discerning the difference between true virtue 
and the essentials of vital religion and the forms of godliness with- 
out its power and influence, as to unite us in the pursuit of the 
former and incline us to disregard the latter. 

But too much of your time has already been taken up to suffer me 
to obtrude on your patience the consideration of so diffuse a subject. 
I shall, therefore, only add that no measures can possibly be effec- 
tual to secure the happiness of this people if we remember not the 
Lord our God. The interests of Christ's kingdom in the world 
ought always to lie near the heart of a people whose interests have 
been so near to him. In the honest cultivation of true virtue and a 
promotion of vital religion we must seek our establishment, and the 
leading events of the present time should be told to our children, 
that generations after us may know that they are not of their own 
procuring, but bought with a price, and may in after ages be induced 
to join their devout ancestors in praising God in His sanctuary, in 
the firmament of His power, in His mighty acts in His excellent 
greatness — to praise Him with the sound of the trumpet and harp, 
to praise Him with timbrel and dance, with stringed instruments 
and organs. O let everything which hath breath praise the Lord, 
praise ye the Lord. Amen. 

The By-Laws of the Ohio Company, unfortunately, did not 
provide for the sale of lands to settlers not stockholders in the 
Company, and it was with deep chagrin that tlic directors saw, 



542 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

as Putnam estimated, upwards of seven thousand immigrants 
floating down the river to the Kentucky settlements, since the 
previous April, who would probably have staid on the Muskin- 
gum, could lands have been obtained. To correct this condition 
of aff*airs, a meeting of the directors was called for December, of 
whose action in the premises General Parsons advises Dr. Cutler 
in the following letter: — 

Marietta, Dec. 11, 1788. 

Dear Sir. — I cannot longer neglect to inform you of the occurren- 
ces which have taken place here since you left us. The surveys of the 
8 acre, 3 acre and city lots being completed, and the expectation of a 
treaty still continuing, all further surveys were suspended until about 
five weeks ago, when we all concurred in an order to extend four of 
our town lines to the 1 1th Range ; and, Judge Varnum dissenting, two 
of the directors extended this order to the 12th, being twenty- four 
miles west, and to survey the meanders of the Ohio as far as to meet 
the cross lines in their south direction. The meanders of the river, 
and the first and second lines to the 12th Range are completed; the 
3d and 4th, on a treaty being rendered certain and soon to commence, 
are, at the desire of the Governor, suspended for the present. The 
line commencing six miles on the 7th Range appears nearly to termi- 
nate the River Hills, and after passing about four miles west of the 
Muskingum, exhibits an excellent campaign country, very fertile and 
well watered. The other line passes over the River Hills through 
a broken country, interspersed with good lands and rich bottoms, but 
not of so great present use as the lands further north. In this line 
is found excellent iron ore — being burned and pulverized nearly 
seven-eighths is attracted by the magnet. It appears to be in great 
plenty. The treaty has just commenced, and upon the close we will 
pursue our surveys. 

The time of the meeting of the Proprietors having arrived, a 
number sufficient to proceed did not appear; an adjournment took 
place, at which time 140 shares only appeared personally, and by 
special authority, Col. Crary not having then arrived. We then pro- 
ceeded to take the opinion of the Proprietors present on the subject 
of granting lands to settlers, and altering the former mode of divid- 
ing our lands agreed upon by the agents at Boston. They (five 
shares only dissenting) gave it as their opinion that it was a matter 
well within the authority of the general agents, and requested them 
to take up the matter and to grant lands to settlers, not exceeding 
one hundred acres out of each share, and to divide the common 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 543 

estate in such manner as would be most conducive to the common 
interest without respect to former votes. The agents have taken up 
the subject, 957 shares being represented, and Col. Crary being 
Chairman, voted (214 shares represented by Col. Crary excepted), 
unanimously to make grants of lands to encourage settlement, not 
exceeding one hundred acres to each share in the funds, and ap- 
pointed a committee to reconnoiter the country and affix the proper 
places for that purpose, repealed the votes ordering the mode of 
division, and diregted the committee to examine where are the proper 
places to divide farms to the Proi^rietors. You see we have decided 
the main point that we will give. I believe I ought to say we were 
unanimous on this question, for although Col. Crary would not vote 
for it, he publicly declared that he was fully in opinion with us on 
the general question. Judge Varnum appears the only dissatisfied 
person, but he is now so far advanced in the stages of a confirmed 
consumption that nothing ought to be remembered against him. I 
think it more probable he will die within a month than that he will 
ever recover. He intends setting out for New Orleans in a few days 
as the only remaining expedient for his recovery. 

The settlers here ajDpear highly satisfied with the measures we 
have taken, and very many will go out to those lands. As they must 
be settled in the spring or early next summer, it will be necessary 
for as many as wish to receive the donations to be out as soon as pos- 
sible. We have had an addition of about one hundred within two 
weeks, and more are expected. We are constantly putting up build- 
ings, but arrivals are faster than we can provide convenient covering. 
Between forty and fifty houses are so far done as to receive families, 
and ten more are in building, about one-half of which I expect will 
be able to receive families next week. 

We still continue Qur Sabbath exercises, and last Monday we had 
the first Ball in our country, at which were present fifteen ladies as 
well accomplished in the manners of polite circles as any I have seen 
in the old states. I mention this to show the progress of society in 
this distant country. I believe we shall vie with, if not excel, the 
old states in every accomplishment necessary to render life happy. 
My wife has beat a parley and submitted a prisoner of war; she 
agrees to send one of our daughters next summer, and with the 
family to remove when I can make it convenient. This, you know, 
must give me great satisfaction. I think. Sir, your return here is 
not only necessary, but that you will be received with great cordi- 
ality by all our citizens. I am convinced Judge Varnum will never 
return ; when all animosity will cease. 



544 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

We continue to enjoy health and peace, and I have reason to hope 
all matters will be settled with the Indians. They continue to say 
they have no objection to this settlement, and that we are much more 
acceptable to them than any settlers with whom they have been before 
acquainted. If you intend the vote to close all payments in June 
shall be extended to a further time, you must be here, or at least 
bring Putnam and Sargent to support it. 

The weather continues very fine. I finished sowing my grain 
this day. No snow. 

I am, with great esteem and respect 

Yr. ob't serv't., 

Sam. H. Parsons. 

23d Jan'y., 1789. — My letter not having met the expected con- 
veyance, Mr. Oliver having altered his mind, I can now inform you 
that the treaty ended the 17th to the satisfaction of all concerned, 
and we still continue in peace and have a prospect of remaining so. 
Judge Varnum left this world, in which he was very unhappy, the 
10th inst., for a better I hope where he will enjoy a tranquility to 
which he was a stranger here. He was buried the 14th with great 
decency, not less than two hundred men attended in the procession; 
the Masons, Cincinnati, civil officers, and those of the militia, formed 
part of the procession. 

We chose another director the 19th, when the choice fell on 
GrifFen Greene, Esq., from Rhode Island, in exclusion of Col. Crary. 
Votes for Mr. Greene, 56Q; for Col. Crary, 124. Mr. Greene has 
made himself very agreeable to us since he has been here; appears 
much of the gentleman and a person of great candor. Br. Crary 
is much mortified, and is about protesting against the choice; I was 
the only person voting for him, but I own I am well pleased with 
Mr. Greene. Our animosities have subsided and all appear 
friendly. 

We have ordered a division to the Proprietors of 160 acres to 
each right, to be drawn the third Tuesday of March, within the set- 
tling rights. We have voted to give 200 settling rights to non- 
proprietors before the first of October, and those Proprietors who 
by that time will agree to settle their own rights by themselves or 
others, shall have the right to do so — if any more vacant rights at 
that time, they shall also be given to settlers. The duties are five 
years residence on the donation lands, within that time to build a 
house at least 24 by 18 feet, a stone or brick chimney, a cellar, and 
to clear twenty acres within three years, to set out fifty apple trees 
and twenty peach trees, and obey all militia laws. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 545 

I beg you will come on as soon as possible; we all want j'ou, I 
am sure you will be welcome, I can preach no longer for you. 
Deacon Story does very well, but on the public Thanksgiving I was 
obliged for the first time to preach, much against my will, from 
Psalm 103, v. 2, and such a piece of work I believe you never 
heard; I am sure I never did. To confirm my wife in her faith I 
have sent it to her for perusal. 

Y'r friend, 
To Rev. Manasseh Cutler. S. H. P. 

The settlement of Ohio was regarded, both in Europe and in 
this Country, as an event of national importance. Although the 
provisional treaties with Great Britain had definitely settled that 
the three Powers would relinquish to the United States all claim 
to the territory between the Ohio, the Mississippi and the great 
Lakes, neither England, nor France, notwithstanding she had 
helped us gain our Independence, nor Spain, had made the con- 
cession willingly, it being their policy to limit and dwarf, rather 
than encourage the growth of the young Republic, whose power 
in the future, if permitted to expand, they could even then dis- 
cern. There was always a possibility, therefore, in the event of 
a foreign war, of a hostile occupation of this, the weak spot in 
the Confederacy, so long as it remained a savage wilderness. 
But when the men who had fought for and won our Indepen- 
dence, proceeded to possess themselves of the western country, 
attention everywhere was attracted to the movement, and it 
became apparent, as General Putnam writes to Washington, 
"that the faithful subjects of these United States will soon 
become so established on the waters of the Ohio and of the Lakes, 
as to banish forever the idea of our Western Territor}^ again 
falling under the dominion of any European Power." 

Of the character of the immigration to Ohio, Washington 
writing June 1788, says: — "No colony in America was ever 
settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just 
commenced at the Muskingum. Information, property, strength, 
will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers per- 
sonally, and there never were men better calculated to promote 
the welfare of such a community." A few months before he 
had written to Lafayette: — "A spirit of immigration to the 



546 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

western country is very predominant. Congress has sold in the 
year past a pretty large quantity of lands on the Ohio for 
public securities, and thereby diminished the public debt con- 
siderably. Many of your military acquaintances, such as Gen- 
erals Parsons, Varnum and Putnam, Colonels Tupper, Sproat 
and Sherman, with many more, propose settling there. From 
such beginnings much may be expected." 

The matter of settling the unoccupied territories of the 
L^nited States through grants of wild lands to the officers and 
soldiers of the Revolutionary War, was much discussed in the 
Army as early as 1779, and General Parsons, in February 1780, 
proposed to Governor Clinton that the same plan be adopted for 
settling the Avestcrn part of New York. June 16, 1783, two 
hundred and eighty-eight~officers of the Continental Army signed 
a petition to Congress asking that the Indian title be extin- 
guished to what is now the eastern half of Ohio, and that grants 
of land in this tract be made to the officers and soldiers of the 
American Army, as provided by the resolutions of Sept. 20, 
1776 and by subsequent resolutions, and that further grants be 
made in exchange for public securities to such of them as should 
become actual settlers, with reference to such tract being in 
time admitted as one of the States of the Union. This petition 
was transmitted to Congress through General Washington, ac- 
companied by strong letters from him and from Rufus Putnam, 
but Congress failed to act upon it and nothing was accomplished 
until the formation of the Ohio Company. 

In the new project. General Parsons seems to have been recog- 
nized as an important factor, being the first named director and 
the agent selected to present to Congress the application for the 
passage of an Ordinance to sell lands in Ohio to the Company. 
General Rufus Putnam and ]Manasseh Cutler were associated 
with him as directors. The eminent and trusted men who became 
stockholders in the Company, inspired great confidence in the 
management and contributed greatly to the success of the 
undertaking. Among them were such men as Governors James 
Bowdoin, Caleb Strong and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts ; 
Governor William Greene of Rhode Island; Governor Jonathan 
Trumbull of Connecticut; Samuel Dexter, L^nited States Senator 
from Massachusetts and Secretary of the Treasury; Uriah 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 547 

Tracy, Senator from Connecticut; Ebenezer Hazzard, Post- 
master General under the Continental Congress ; Brockholst 
Livingston, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme 
Court ; Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury ; 
Henry Knox, the first Secretary of War ; President Joseph Wil- 
lard, of Harvard College. Under such auspices the Company 
could not fail of success. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

The Connecticut Reserve. Parsons Appointed to Survey it. 
Forms Syndicate to Buy Lands in. At Philadelphia for the 
Ohio Company. Returning, Visits Gen. Gates. Chief 
Justice Ellsworth. Thirteenth Anniversary of Indepen- 
dence Celebrated at Marietta. Appointed to Treat 
WITH THE Indians on the Reserve. Goes to Lake Erie to 
Complete the Surveys. Returning, is Drowned in Great 
Beaver Creek. Body Found and Buried; Afterwards 
Removed to New Brighton. Letters from Gen. Butler 
and Lieut. McDowell. Parsons' Family. His Career 
AND Character. 



The boundaries of Connecticut, as defined in the Chartei' of 
1662, included all the territory between the forty-first and fort}^- 
second parallels from Narraganset Bay on the east, to the 
Pacific Ocean on the west, and embraced about one-fourth of the 
present State of Ohio, and two-fifths of the territory subsequently 
granted to W^illiam Penn and named by him Pennsylvania. The 
settlement of the Wyoming Valley by Connecticut people and 
their claim of jurisdiction under the Connecticut Charter, had 
raised the question of title prior to the Revolutionary War, but, 
upon the commencement of hostilities, the matter, at the request 
of Congress, was left in abeyance until, in November, 1781, the 
inhabitants, impatient at the delay, petitioned Congress for an 
adjudication of the conflicting claims of the two States by a 
Board of Commissioners to be selected as provided by the Articles 
of Confederation. Connecticut was represented in this pro- 
ceeding by Eliphalet Dyer and William Samuel Johnson, who, 
in 1773 and 1774, had been appointed with General Parsons, 
Governor Matthew Griswold, Roger Sherman and others, a 
Committee to prepare a case for the submission of this contro- 
versy to the Courts of Great Britain. The Commissioners con- 
vened their Court at Trenton, New Jersey, November 12, 1782, 

348 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 549 

and, after a session of forty-one days, found unanimously " that 
Connecticut had no right to the lands in question, and that the 
jurisdiction and preemption of all the territory lying within the 
Charter of Pennsylvania, and now claimed by the State of Con- 
necticut, do of right belong to the State of Pennsylvania." The 
State, however, subsequently confirmed to the Wyoming settlers 
the titles to their lands. This decision, if not good law, was 
undoubtedly good policy, and in the interest of the peace and 
stability of the Union. But Connecticut's claim under its 
Charter to lands west of Pennsylvania, rested on a different and 
more solid basis, its right to these lands not being disputed by 
any other State, and having been in no wise affected by the 
treaty of 1783. Accordingly, when in 1786 she ceded to Con- 
gress her western territorial claims, she rightly and very properly 
recouped herself for the loss of her lands in Pennsylvania, by 
reserving a tract in Ohio of about three and one-half millions of 
acres, bounded on the south by the forty-first parallel, and ex- 
tending along the southern shore of Lake Erie from the west 
line of Pennsylvania on the east to the bay of Sandusky on the 
west, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles. This tract 
was and still is known as the Connecticut or Western Reserve. 

In October, 1786, the General Assembly resolved to sell that 
part of the Reserve east of the Cuyahoga River, and appointed 
Benjamin Huntington and John Chester a Committee for the 
purpose. The resolution provided for the division of the tract 
into townships six English miles square, to be laid out in ranges 
running from the forty-first degree of latitude northerh' to Lake 
Erie, parallel to the west line of Pennsylvania, and to be num- 
bered from this line westerly. The low price — three shillings 
per acre — at which these lands were offered attracted attention, 
particularly as obligations of the State were receivable in pay- 
ment, and led General Parsons to organize a s\mdicate to 
purchase several townships. Having learned much of the coun- 
try from an old army friend, Captain Jonathan Heart (then 
commanding a compan}^ at Venango), who had explored the 
whole tract east of the Cuyahoga, he located 24,000 acres at the 
Salt Springs on the Meander, about two miles south of Niles in 
]\Iahoning County, and obtained from the Committee having 
charge of the sale, authority " to survey and lay out the two 



550 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

most southerly townships in the thii-d Range of townships from 
the Pennsylvania line, which included the Salt Springs tract." 
He is said also to have located a quarter township on the present 
site of Cleveland. 

The agreement between Parsons and the Syndicate provided 
that each member should pay to Parsons the amount of his sub- 
scription in the Treasury notes receivable for these lands, and 
that Parsons, whenever a sum sufficient had been paid in, should 
locate and purchase a township and cause the same to be sur- 
veyed and properly marked, and convey to each subscriber an 
undivided interest therein proportioned to his subscription, 
except in -ijOOO acres to be reserved by Parsons in compensation 
for his services as promoter and manager, to be laid out in any 
part of the township and in one or two parcels as he may elect, 
such parcels to be rectangular in form, their length not to 
exceed twice their width. 

General Parsons having been appointed Surveyor of the lands 
in the Reserve lying east of the Cuyahoga, the Committee in 
charge issued to him the following instructions, bearing date 
October 30th, 1787:— 

To the Hon. Major General Holden Parsons, Esq.: 

Sir. — You being appointed Surveyor of lands west of Pennsyl- 
vania belonging to the State of Connecticut, and which are ordered 
by the General Assembly of said State to be sold; You are hereby 
authorized and desired to enter on that business as early as possible 
by yourself or some trusty and skillful person in the art of survey- 
ing and such other assistance, attendance and preparation as you 
shall find necessary. You are first and without loss of time to make 
and perfect a survey and chart of said lands in the following man- 
ner, viz : — Beginning at the latitude of forty-one degrees north and 
in the line of the west side of Pennsylvania, and from thence meas- 
ure northerly in said line of Pennsylvania, setting up marks or monu- 
ments at the end of every six English miles until you come to Lake 
Erie, and thence westerly by the Lake as it runs and observing the 
variation of the compass so as to lay down the Lake on your chart 
as it truly is, and also setting up monuments by the Lake at the end 
of every six English miles due west from Pennsylvania where the 
lines between the general tiers of townships will come to the Lake, 
until you come to the River Cuyahoga where it falls into Lake Erie, 
and from thence by the Indian line up to the head of said River, 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 551 

and from thence by the line of the Indian's land until you come to 
the latitude of forty-one degrees north, setting up marks or monu- 
ments where the lines between the townships in each range will 
come to said Indian line, so that due east and west lines drawn from 
the monuments first mentioned to be set up ever}' six miles in the 
line of Pennsylvania to their corresponding monuments in said In- 
dian line, may divide between the townships in the manner directed 
by the General Assembly, observing in all your mensurations to make 
remarks and observations of mountains, rivers, brooks, mines, timber, 
stone, quality of lands and other natural appurtenances thereof, and 
make and transmit to the Committee a chart of the said lands from 
the latitude of forty-one degree north, and within the boundaries 
aforesaid, with your remarks thereon, with all possible disi^atch, and 
likewise give intelligence to the Committee by every conveyance of 
your progress and success in the business aforesaid, until the whole 
is accomplished ; and after completing your chart as above men- 
tioned, you will proceed to lay out the townships in the manner 
directed by the General Assembly, and set up monuments at the 
corners of those towns, beginning the ranges at Pennsylvania and 
running the lines between those ranges at six English miles distance 
from each other and parallel to the west side of Pennsylvania, until 
you have laid six tiers, and more, if you find it convenient to promote 
the sale of those lands, and running your east and west lines in such 
manner as to make each township six miles square, according to the 
order of the General Assembly, and report your doings with the 
expenses thereof, to said Committee. 

Dated at New Haven the 30th daj^ of October, 1787- 

Benj. Huntijstgton, 
John Chester, 

Committee. 

December 12, 1787, General Parsons paid to the Committee'l 
in behalf of his syndicate, twenty-seven hundred and thirty-six 
pounds, to wit : — three hundred and twenty-six pounds, seven- 
teen shillings and eleven pence in bills of credit emitted in 1780 ; 
twenty-two hundred and sixteen pounds, seventeen shillings and 
one pence in liquidated securities of this State as lawful money, 
and two hvnidred and ninety pounds, five shillings in two orders 
drawn by him on Colonel Eliphalet Dyer, receivable in State 
bills or securities of the description above mentioned," which 
entitled him to a patent for the tract of land l3'ing in the third 
range of townships, described as follows : — 



552 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

Beginning at the northeast corner of the first township in said 
range; thence running northerly in the west line of the second 
range to latitude 41°, 12', north; thence west three miles; thence 
southerly parallel to the west line of Pennsylvania, two and one- 
half miles ; thence west three miles to the west line of said third 
range; thence southerly, parallel to the said west line of Pennsyl- 
vania, to the north line of the first township in said third range; 
thence east to the first boundary. 

Parsons received his patent, February 10, 1788. The 4000 
acres reserved by him as compensation, is described as follows : — 

Beginning at a place called the Salt Springs, near the Big 
Beaver Creek, so called, from which place a line is to be extended 
one mile east and also one mile west; and from said Springs a line 
is to be extended north until it comes so far north as the parallel 
of the fourth boundary mentioned in the patent of lands granted 
to me by the State of Connecticut, (bearing date of February 10, 
1788) two miles and a half south of the north line of said patent; 
and from said Springs to extend so far south as that lines drawn at 
right angles to each other and passing through those points will 
include four thousand acres. 

March 10, Parsons quit claimed to Colonel Dyer three hun- 
dred and forty acres of the 4000 acre tract, to be held by him 
" in common with the other proprietors." This deed is endorsed : 
— " Received, 14th of September, 1788 and recorded Lib. 1, 
folio 2. En. Parsons, Register, Washington Co." 

General Parsons commenced the survey of the Connecticut 
lands soon after his arrival at Marietta, but fearing that, if 
continued, it would excite the jealousy of the Lidians and inter- 
fere with the making of the proposed treaty, he suspended opera- 
tions. Of this he advised Governor St. Clair who in reply wrote 
as follows : — 

Northwest Territory of the United States, 

County of Washington, September IJf, 1788. 

Sir. — In your letter to me of yesterday, you say, that having been 

employed by the State of Connecticut to procure a survey of lands 

which I understand to be within the limits of the jurisdiction of the 

Territory, after having commenced the survey you had discontinued 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 553 

it from an apprehension the state of Indian affairs rendered a pur- 
suit of the object improper at this time. 

I am very well pleased, Sir, that the surveys have been discon- 
tinued, for, at this time, when it is certain that the minds of the 
Indians on the subject of lands are not very easy, and when great 
numbers of them are hourly expected at this place, in order, if pos- 
sible, amicably to adjust every subject of controversy, the pursuing 
of them might be attended with very ill public consequences. 

I do not certainly know, Sir, whether I am right in another opin- 
ion ; neither have I now time to examine it, but it strikes me that the 
consent of Congress ought to be obtained, and Connecticut should 
have obtained that consent before any appropriation of lands is 
made within the Territory of the United States by any State. Cer- 
tainly the Executive of the Territory should have notice. 

As Congress, by accepting Connecticut's cession of her west- 
ern territorial claims subject to the reservation of a part thereof 
for her own use, had thereby admitted the title of the State to 
the part reserved, its consent could hardly have been necessary 
to enable the State to make a legal disposition of its own lands. 
Moreover, Connecticut, in the Act of Cession, had not only 
retained its title to the tract reserved, but also its political juris- 
diction over it, consequently the Reserve was not a part of the 
Northwest Territory of the United States and the Governor's 
authority did not, as he supposed, extend over it. However, to 
avoid all questions as to title and jurisdiction, Congress, by a 
Special Act for " quieting the title of persons claiming as 
grantees or purchasers under the State of Connecticut the tract 
commonly called the Western Reserve," authorized the issue of a 
patent to the State for their use and benefit, " provided it should 
within eight months renounce forever all claims of territory 
and jurisdiction westward of the east line of the State of New 
York, saving the claims of such grantees or purchasers." Con- 
necticut having. May 30, 1800, executed through its Governor 
the required renunciation, a Patent was issued by the President 
in behalf of the United States, transferring to the State for the 
benefit and use of these claimants, all the title of the Government 
to the lands in the Reserve. The interest of Connecticut in this 
tract was finally disposed of by granting in May, 1792, five 
hundred thousand acres from the West end of the Reserve to New 



554^ LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

London, Fairfeld, Norwalk and other towns in compensation for 
property dcstro^'ed by the enemy during the Revolutionary War, 
and by selling, in 1795, the unsold remainder, estimated to be 
about thirt^'-two hundred thousand acres, to the Connecticut 
Land Company, a syndicate composed of about three hundred 
and twenty of the wealthier citizens of the State. The pro- 
ceeds of this sale, twelve hundred thousand dollars, were set 
apart as the nucleus of a school fund for the State. 

In the latter part of January, 1789, General Parsons had 
occasion to visit Philadelphia on business of the Ohio Company. 
When half way to Wheeling, the boat on which he had taken 
passage up the Ohio became so impeded by floating ice, that it 
became necessary to abandon it and make the journey by land. 
With him was a young attorney from Marietta, Paul Fearing, 
afterwards prominent in the Colon}', whom he had at the Septem- 
ber term of the Court, admitted to practice in all the courts of 
the Territory. The mountains were crossed on horseback, but 
because of the condition of the roads and on account of an injury 
to his ankle caused b}' his horse falling upon it, it was not until 
the 15th of March that Parsons reached his destination. 
The next daj- after his arrival at Philadelphia, he wrote to his 
wife, then in INIiddletown, as follows : — 

Philadelphia, March 16th, 1789. 

My Dear. — I arrived in this city yesterday" after being more than 
seven weeks on my journey. I still continue very lame, but have 
some use of my foot. I much wish to see rou. If you are able to 
endure the fatigue of a journey to this city, or to New Jersey, I shall 
see you; if not, I must deny myself the happiness. 

Enoch must come immediately on receipt of this and bring all 
papers which in any way relate to the Ohio Company. Let him 
bring his books of record to send on. Send me McEwens' Medita- 
tions and Johnson's Dictionary. If Mabel will go with me, send 
her bed, furniture, clothing &c. to this city and let her come with 
you if she can ; if not, her bedding &c. had better be sent at this time. 
I can be found at the Sign of the Conestoga Wagon, kept by Saml. 
Nicolas in Market street near Third street. I suppose this letter 
will reach you on Saturday and that Enoch will set out on Monday. 
I believe I shall meet him or you at Elizabethtown on Thursday. 
He will inquire for me at the different Stage Houses there, before 
he comes on here. I shall write to all our dear children before I 



GENERAL SAIMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 555 

return. I expect tlie Governor here, when Enoch may be qualified 
for office and return, if necessary. Affectionately yours, 

S. H. Parsons. 

The General's son, Enoch, joined him in Philadelphia, as re- 
quested in the letter to his mother. Their business finished, 
they commenced their long journey on horseback, riding leisurely 
across the Piedmont country and the Blue Ridge, along the 
Shenandoah and Potomac, and down the Youghiogheny to Pitts- 
burgh, where they arrived the 3d of ]\Iay. From Pittsburgh, 
Enoch, then a bright, observing boy of nineteen and not in the 
least doubting his knowledge of horseflesh, writes to his elder 
brother, William Walter, the "Midshipman Billy" of Revolu- 
tionary days : — 

Pittsburgh, Maij Ifth, 1789. 

Dear Brother. — Wc have at last arrived at this place after rid- 
ing and sailing about seven hundred miles ; one hundred and eighty 
miles more down the Ohio will carry us to our desired haven. In this 
circuitous route we have ridden two hundred miles further than we 
should have done by coming the most direct route. Our horses have 
rather gained flesh on the journej', excepting my little white mare 
who tired at Winchester, where I exchanged her for another. I am 
agreeably disappointed in my mare, and would not receive so small 
a sum for her at this time by fortj^ dollars as I would have done 
before I commenced vay journey. I should not be so particular 
respecting our horses were it not for the many unfavorable prognosti- 
cations as to my mare, and to show that people sometimes err in 
their judgement of the ability and inability of horses to perform a 
long journey. 

No injm-y has been done to the settlement at Muskingum by the 
Indians; however, it is not certain (I think from the reports) that 
we shall remain undisturbed through the summer. A family or two 
were killed last week at Dunkards Creek, about twenty or thirty 
miles from this place, and Mr. Williams (the Indian interpreter) 
informs me that " five parties of Indians of different tribes were 
preparing to go to war, and would probably place themselves on the 
Ohio in order to capture the boats that are going down the river." 
and that Brandt, (Thayendanegea) is using his influence with the 
Indians against the settlement, and to dissuade them from attending 
to their agreement at the late treaty. 

Yours &c., 
To William Walter Parsons. Enoch Parsons. 



556 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

The next day the General wrote to his wife at Middletown, 
Connecticut : — 

Pittsburgh, 3/a^ 5, 1789. 

My Dear. — We arrived here the 3d instant, having moved slowly 
from Philadelphia through Virginia to this place. We are now 
awaiting passage down the River, which I hope to accomplish some- 
time to-day. 

I hear the people at Marietta are now very quiet and all things 
go prosperously there. I am exceedingly pleased with the manly 
conduct of our dear son. His mind seems stored with a good share 
of knowledge; his manners are easy and graceful and he is univer- 
sally respected by the gentlemen into whose company he has fallen. 
I hope to find great satisfaction in his company. If he thinks best, 
he shall return to you this summer with Mr. Woodbridge, and I hope 
he will be able to make it your choice to unite the family in this 
country. Your comfort and happiness is my earnest desire and noth- 
ing gives me so much concern as a fear you are otherwise. I hoped 
to have seen you once more, but I must submit to my disappointment. 
I can never be happy without you. Next to your company, my great- 
est satisfaction will be to be sure of your welfare. I am still very 
lame and I believe I shall continue to be. 

My love to all our dear children and believe me, my dear, j^our 
faithful and affectionate 

Saml. H. Parsons. 
To his wife. 

While in the Valley of Virginia, General Parsons took occasion 
to visit his old comrade in arms, General Horatio Gates, ever 
courteous and genial, who was then living upon his estate, " The 
Traveler's Rest," to which he had retired after his disastrous 
defeat at Camden. L'pon his immigration to Virginia in 1772, 
he had purchased this estate, situated about ten miles west of 
Harper's Ferry, between the little villages of Kerneysville and 
Leetown, the latter the old home of General Charles Lee (died 
1782), and built upon it an unpretentious house diflPering little 
from the other houses in the Valley, its only peculiarity being the 
three huge windows in the dining room, constructed expressly to 
accommodate three immense and unusuaUj gorgeous damask 
curtains sent over to him by his friends in England to adorn 
liis palace in the woods. In this " Hospitable Retirement," as 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 557 

Parsons terms it in the following letter of acknowledgment, 
remote from other dwellings and away from the traveled road, 
Gates continued living a quiet and uneventful life until his 
removal to New York some years afterwards : — 

Marietta, June 6, 1789. 

Dear Sir. — I should feel myself criminal if I neglected by so 
good an opportunity as the present, to convey to my very good friend 
and his amiable partner my most cordial wishes for their happiness 
and prosperity. The kind reception I met with at your hospitable 
Retirement revived the feelings of sincere friendship for you which 
were many years since deeply engraven on my heart, and which 
in all the vicissitudes of your fortune have remained unaltered. My 
situation in life has always placed me in a state of dependence, but 
has never yet compelled me to forsake my friends or join in calumny 
against them, an independence of sentiment I always had amidst 
the miseries attendant on a narrow fortune and the perplexing de- 
light of a numerous family. That you love your friends and never 
forsake their interests for small occasions, I have very fully ex- 
perienced. I have now only to regret that in decline of life when 
we so much want the consoling company of our tried friends, we are 
destined to be so far separated as scarcely to hope to see each other 
many times more. I cannot go east of the Mountains and you are 
too much at your ease to come to the West. I find our settlement at 
this jDlace in as good a state as I had reason to expect. We have 
planted three villages at about fifteen miles distant in different direc- 
tions; (Belpre, Waterford and Wolf Creek Mills) and they appear 
to be established so strongly as to defy any attempts of the Savages. 
We shall have planted this year more than 300 acres with Indian 
corn. Winter and summer wheat, rye, oats, flax and hemp are grow- 
ing in considerable quantities, and we have more than ten thousand 
apple, pear, peach, cherry and plum trees set out, exclusive of our 
nurseries, which have an innumerable multitude of small trees. The 
month of April, 1788, the first settler arrived here, and till then 
never a tree had been cut on this very heavy timbered country. I 
think we have made good progress, at least in the article of fruit 
trees. We must for a season be watchful and constantly on our 
guard; this has hitherto given us security and I believe we shall 
enjoy peace when our neighbors are involved in w/ir. 

My son desires his dutiful respects to you and your lady. He is 
very much pleased with his visit to your hospitable Retirement and 
often mentions you with friendly reverence. If at any time you can 



558 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

give me a line, I shall be very much obliged. Remember me cordially 
to your good lady and believe me ever 

Your sincere friend and obedt. servt., 

Saml. H. Parsons. 
P. S. — Your friend, Mr. Graham, has never called upon me. I 
do not know the reason, except he may have supposed the ambition 
of a certain man to be a mark of real respectability. I thought it 
not proper to seek an opportunity to enlighten him, as he has neither 
brought me a letter or message from you. 
To General Horatio Gates. 

Oliver Ellsworth, third Chief Justice of the L^nited States, 
to whom the following letter is addressed, was at this time one 
of the Senators in Congress from Connecticut, Doctor William 
Samuel Johnson being the other — both close friends of General 
Parsons. A strong Federalist, the Chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee in the Senate and an able debater, John Adams 
regarded him as " the firmest pillar of Washington's Adminis- 
tration in that Body." He was generally regarded as one of the 
ablest men of his da}" in New England : — 

Marietta, May 20, 1789. 
Hon. Oliver Ellsworth, 

Dear Sir. — I have presumed to cover to you a letter to Governor 
St. Clair from the uncertainty of his being in New York. If he is 
there, I will thank you to seal and deliver it after seeing the con- 
tents. If not, I wish Dr. Johnson may see it and such other gentle- 
men as you think proper to communicate it to. To you. Sir, I can 
say with freedom whatever I think on those subjects. I am con- 
vinced further treaties with Indians without a force to convince 
them of the efficiency of our Government, will not avail generally. 
So far as the particular condition of States adjoining the Indians 
may by them distinguish those claims from the general assumption 
of territory, may have a beneficial influence as it respects those 
States and probably will have. The inhabitants of this country will 
expect, and have right to expect protection from the United States, 
and I have no doubt will receive it; and the settlement of the Ohio 
purchase is the only solid ground of union between the two parts 
of the United States. Our habits and manners and our ardent wishes 
are such as will never admit the idea of separation unless you on the 
east side compel it ; and I am vain enough to believe the systematical 
mode of settlements and the habits we cherish and sentiments we 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 559 

inculcate, will eventually give the tone to all the country in the West. 
Perhaps I am too sanguine, but I know we are persevering and we 
are not to be appalled by difficulties, but look forward to the reward 
and shall not easily relinquish our pursuit. We, therefore, ought 
to be attended to and fostered as a favorite child. 

You will see by mine to the Governor, the imperfection of the 
present government here; it is very much felt. Cannot you think 
proper to amend it. If a Lieut. Governor was appointed, this part 
of the difficulty would be remedied; and should economy induce the 
old Connecticut practice of annexing the office to that of Chief 
Justice, two or three hundred dollars would be a compensation for 
twice or thrice the sum. However this may be, or if the Governor 
does not return, you know my feelings will be injured by being super- 
ceded by another with whom perhaps I cannot be as confidentially 
happy with as I am with the present Governor. I beg you would 
interest yourself and your friends in preventing any appointment 
to the vacancy caused by Judge Varnum's death which will destroy 
the peace of our settlement. Mr. Cutler, General Putnam and, I 
suspect, Mr. Gilman, will be candidates. I believe any of them would 
be acceptable, as would brother Judd, if he can be obtained, of which, 
however, I am in doubt. 

My son designs to go to New Orleans. I would esteem it a par- 
ticular favor if you will join Dr. Johnson and Colonel Wadsworth 
in procuring letters from Mr. Guardoqui (the Spanish Ambassador 
in New York at that time) and a passport for himself and property, 
and, if you can do it with propriety, that you would sign a general 
recommendation of him, that it may appear his connections and ac- 
quaintances are reputable and he deserves confidence and respect. 
I am with great respect, your obedient servant, 

rr Tj /^7• vn n Saml. H. Parsons. 

1 o Hon. Oliver hUswortli. 

May 14<, 1779, the General's son, Enoch, had been appointed 
by Governor St. Clair, " Register of Deeds for the County of 
Washington and Clerk of the Court of Probate." These offices 
he held until April, 1790, when, in consequence of his father's 
death, he resigned them and returned to his old home in Middle- 
town, Connecticut. While in the Western Country, young 
Enoch kept a journal of his observations. As an example of 
the fertility of the soil and the rapidity of vegetable growth in 
the new settlement, he enters in his journal: — "June 7, 1789. 
Rode out with my father to his three acre lot which was sowed 



560 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

with rye in December last. About twenty days ago it was four 
inches high. Ten days since when we visited it, it was three and 
a half feet high ; and to-day we found it seven and a half feet 
in height." And again: — "June 13th. Measured a spear of 
flax growing on my city lot, and find that in six. days it has 
grown seven inches. INIr. Converse informs me that about three 
weeks ago he planted corn which is at present four feet high." 

The following is from Parsons to his wife, in Middletown, 
Connecticut : — 

Marrietta, July 2, 1789. 

My Dear. — It is only to convince you I have a constant remem- 
brance of you that I now write, after having so lately sent one by 
Mr. Leach. Enoch often writes, which is a great relief to me and 
gives you all the information you wish. We are very well and intend 
next week to go down the River about one hundred and twenty miles 
to lay out some fresh settlements. If no misfortune befalls me, I 
shall return in about a month, when you will hear from me again 
the first opportunity. 

The Indians continue at peace with the inhabitants here. The 
white people from Virginia have crossed over to this territory and 
have done some damage to the friendly Indians. I hope this will 
have no ill effects, but should practices of this sort be continued with 
impunity, it may be followed by serious consequences. 

On my return I shall write to William, Lucia and the children. In 
the meantime remember me most affectionately to them and believe 
me, yours most affectionately, 

Saml. H. Parsons. 

On the 21st of July, Enoch wrote to his mother describing the 
manner in which the 13th anniversary of the Declaration of 
Independence was celebrated at Marietta, and the ball which 
was given soon after: — 

Tlie 2d instant I wrote to you by Mr. McFarley, that we were 
making preparations to solemnize the 13th anniversary of the Inde- 
pendence of the United States. I shall now, having nothing else to 
write, give you the particulars of our proceedings on that day. 

In the afternoon we assembled at the northwest block house, where 
a short oration was pronounced, after which the militia paraded, 
discharged fourteen cannons, fired their muskets fourteen times, 
performed various evolutions, etc and were dispersed. The officers 
of the Government, together with a few other gentlemen, then re- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 561 

paired to Fort Harmar where we partook of an excellent dinner, and 
with good wine and under the discharge of cannons, we drank the 
following toasts: 

1. The United States. 

2. The President of the United States. 

3. The Senate and House of Representatives. 

4. The Secretary of War. 

5. His most Christian Majesty. 

6. Perpetual union between France, Spain and America. 

7. In memory of those heroes who fell in America in defense of 
the liberty of their country. 

8. The Marquis de Lafayette. 

9. The friendly powers of Europe. 

10. The day. 

11. Governor St. Clair and the Western Territory. 

12. Agriculture, commerce and sciences. 

13. Dr. Franklin. 

14. The citizens of Marietta. 

By this time our spirits were not a little exhilarated, however, the 
greatest order and decency was observed by every person throughout 
the day, which was closed by the beautiful illumination of Fort 
Harmar. 

On Monday evening following, we had a splendid ball which was 
opened by a minuet walked by Mrs. Battle and Baron Tilas from 
Sweden, after which we had several country dances and closed with 
a minuet by Mr. Le Luce, a native of this country, a Chief among 
the Wyandots and one of the leaders. Twenty-four ladies attended 
this ball and between sixty and seventy gentlemen. 

Affectionately yours, 

Enoch Parsons. 

In July, a committee of the Ohio Company, consisting of Gen- 
eral Parsons, Griffen Greene and General Tupper, went down 
the Ohio to examine the Company's lands along the River as far 
as the western bounds of its purchase. With them was Colonel 
]\Ieigs, one of their surveyors, to take the meanders of the river. 
On the 25th, near the mouth of Old-town Creek, they met John 
Matthews and his assistants, who had been employed by the 
Superintendent of the Company to survey these lands, returning 
to the ^Muskingum, the Indians having stolen their horses and 
provisions a few days before. The committee requested them 
to go back and complete their unfinished work, and, to enable 



562 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

them to do so, sent to Marietta for supplies. These were 
received on the 31st, and landed the next day at a place below the 
Big Kanawha, the committee's boat continuing on down the 
River. Matthews, upon his return, again encountered the 
Indians and many of his men were killed. He was fortunate 
enough to escape, and, making his way through the brush and 
briers along the river bank, found the committee's boat a few 
miles down the River, with Colonel ^Nleigs, the committee having 
left for Marietta. Parsons, unable to endure the fatigue and 
exposure to which he was subjected on this expedition, while 
very ill and depressed, wrote as follows to his son Enoch at 
Marietta : — 

August i, 1789. 

According to my present feelings, I think it most probable I shall 
have a fit of sickness. My age and constitution considered, it is 
likely, if I should be confined, it will end in my dissolution. It, 
therefore, becomes my duty to commend to your care your mother 
and the family, to whom you must become a father and protector. 

The agency in the Company (for the purchase of the Salt Spring 
tract) you will take upon yourself, and, having settled with all the 
proprietors, the remainder will be in your hands to do with as you 
find necessary, consulting your mother on the subject. I shall, if I 
can, leave a deed of my lands at the Salt Springs to General Butler, 
which you will deliver to him on his executing to you and your young- 
est sister a deed of the whole. ... 

I shall again commend to your care my dear children and your 
mother. Preserve a life of strict honor and honesty in all your 
dealings and pursue a steady course of industry, and with all remem- 
ber that the religion of the Scriptures is a serious truth. Console 
your mother and the children in all these afflictions and remember 
your father's injunctions. 

Yours Affectionately, 
To Enoch Parsons. Saml. H. Parsons. 

On the 18th of August, a few days after his return to ]\rari- 
etta, Parsons wrote to his wife at Middletown : — 

My Dear. — Since Enoch left here, I have heard but once from 
home, for so I will call the place where you are. I returned a few 
days ago from an excursion of one hundred and twenty miles down 
the River to examine some lands with which I found myself per- 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 563 

fectly satisfied, but the very great fatig-ue of traveling through the 
wilderness, lying in the boat and submitting myself to the wet and 
cold, was too great for me and I fell sick and was obliged to return. 
I am now recovered, with the exception of being very weak and an 
inflamation in my eye which gives me much pain, but I hope in a 
few days to be well. 

The Governor not having written makes it uncertain whether I 
shall go to the Illinois. I hope it will not be bad at the time, which 
will prevent me meeting you over the mountains on your way to this 
country, where I shall rejoice to find you and make you happy. I 
hope the means left at your command will prevent your suffering. 
If the family were together, the expense would be much lessened. 
William must send me a copy of all the moneys due me from the 
Agency, together with the names of present proprietors. 

With love to all our dear children and compliments to friends, I 
am, with unfeigned affection. 

Yours faithfully, 
To Mrs. Parsons. Saml. H. Parsons. 

On the 7th of August, Congress passed an Act amending the 
Ordinance of 1787, so that, in conformance with the methods of 
the Constitution, all Territorial officers should be nominated by 
the President and appointed by and with the advice and consent 
of the Senate. On the 8th day of August, 1779, President 
Washington sent to the Senate the name of Arthur St. Clair, for 
Governor ; of Winthrop Sargent, for Secretary, and of Samuel 
Holden Parsons, John Cleves Symmes and William Barton, for 
Judges, of the Northwest Territory, all of which nominations 
were duly confirmed. 

In August, General Parsons wrote to Governor St. Clair, 
then in New York, respecting the affairs of the Territory, as 
follows : — 

Marietta, August 23, 1789. 
Sir.— We have long expected and most ardently wished your 
Excellency to return to your Government ; but we are convinced your 
absence is necessary and the welfare of the Territory requires your 
continuance near Congress. I have only to express my desire that 
your absence may not long be delayed, and that everything neces- 
sary for the welfare of the Government may be accomplished before 
your return. I see in the journals of Congress a resolution for the 
government of this country; if it in any manner changes the former 



k 



564> LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

system, I shall feel much obliged if j'our Excellency will favor me 
with the contents of the bill. On the l^th instant a party of our 
surveyors were attacked by the Indians about one hundred and 
twenty miles down the Ohio from this place ; six soldiers were killed 
dead, and one of the chainmen was wounded, and is either killed 
or taken ; he could not be found the next day nor has he since been 
heard of. I hope ere this time I have an agreeable colleague ap- 
pointed, and that he will speedily arrive. I have been sick about 
three or four weeks, but have nearly recovered my health again. 

The inhabitants in the settlement enjoy good health and the 
luxuriance of the vegetation promises a plentiful return for their 
labor; they have this year four hundred acres of corn and small 
grain, all of which bids fair to produce in abundance. One grist 
and saw mill will be completed soon, another by December. 

Yours &c., 
To Governor St. Clair. Saml. H. Parsons. 

^ Parsons does not appear to have heard at this time of his 
roappointment as Chief Judge of the Territory. The follow- 
ing letter he received from his friend, General Richard Butler, 
v.ho seems to have removed from Carlisle to Pittsburgh : — 

Pittsburgh, September llf, 1789. 
My Friend. — I received your favor of 23d of July. Am happy 
to hear your settlement is not disturbed by the Indians, that you are 
in health and that you intend us the pleasure of a visit this fall. 
As I have now got my little flock fixed within my reach, I hope your 
calls and visits will be more frequent. As to what the great folks 
of New York are about, I believe the Government will be useful 
/ both to you and us, and although there are some grumbling about 
high salaries, (and I believe with some justice) I hope much from the 
regularity and efficiency of it. The Governor and Government is 
established, I believe, on the old grounds, and a Land Office is ex- 
pected to be opened for tracts of a certain size. The impost bill is 
in action and, I am told, operates easily ; if so, some compensation 
for past service may be expected, as certificates will appreciate, but 
as yet they are low. 

You desire me to forward the monej' you left in my hands, and 
sorry I am it is not in my power, as I have neither received a shilling 
from either States or United States, but I can have you furnished 
with anything at Captain O'Harra's that his store affords to amount 
of the sum. He has groceries and other matters which may be use- 
ful. This gives me more uneasiness than it can you. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 565 

I hear that you, Judge Symmes and one from Boston are the 
Judges under the new dispensation. Will an order on my friend 
Meigs answer your purpose for fourteen pounds, three shillings ? 
If so, it will be at your service. 

My good girls, my son and daughter, Molly, join in love to you. 
God bless you, my friend. As heretofore 

Your obe'dt. servt., 

Richard Butler. 

P. S. — I shall not survey an}' this fall. 
To General Parsons. 

The following letter is from Parsons to his wife: — , 

Marietta, September 21st, 1789. 

My Dear. — Our son (Enoch) being happily recovered, will set 
out this day for New York, and although I have nothing to add to 
my last letter, yet I cannot suffer him to pass over the mountains 
without just telling you I am in the land of the living and in good 
health. 

Nothing so much troubles me as concern for your welfare. I hope 
your spirits will not fail under any trials which may fall to your 
lot. I hope we shall see each other again, but this God only knows. 
Mr. Woodbridge's removal so suddenly, defeats my expectations of 
seeing you here next spring. The cause of his sudden return I do 
not know. My diploma of the Order of Cincinnatus was left at Mr. 
Hobby's. I beg you to send for it, and if Enoch goes home, send 
it to me by him. I hope to return to New England next fall, and to 
be able to remove you here then, but this must depend on circum- 
stances. Having no letters from you or any other person in New 
England prevents my saying anything on business. I do not know 
what to write and can only express my ardent affection for you and 
our dear children. I am, my dear, faithfully yours, 

S. H. Parsons. 

In January, 1789, the General Assembly of Connecticut 
appointed Governor Wolcott, General Parsons and James Daven- 
port, Commissioners on the part of the State to treat witli the 
Wyandots and other tribes for the purchase of the Indian title 
to the Connecticut lands in Ohio. The following is the resolu- 
tion making the appointment, a copy of which in the handwrit- 
ing of Mr. Davenport is found among the Parsons' papers, hav- 
ing, probably, been sent to the General for his information : — 



566 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

-yC At a General Assembly of the Governor and Company of the 

State of Connecticut, holden at New Haven by adjournment the 
first day of January, 1789: — 

Whereas it appears to this Assembly that there is a prospect of 
a treaty sometime in the present winter or the next spring between 
some of the States and sundry tribes of Indians who occupy the 
territory reserved by this State in their cession to the United States, 
and it being expedient for this State to maintain their claim to the 
said territory and to take proper measures to extinguish the Indian 
-i title thereto, Therefore, Resolved by this Assembly, that the Hon. 
^ Oliver Wolcott, Samuel H. Parsons and James Davenport, Esquires, 
^ be and they are hereby, appointed Commissioners on the part of this 
y. State to attend the treaty aforesaid, and they are hereby directed to 
■ >t take measures to obtain information relative to the commencement of 
~ the expected treaty, and when ascertained of that particular, to pro- 
-*:. ceed, with the advice of his Excellency, the Governor, to join said 
■J. treaty; and in order to eifectuate the object proposed, the Comptrol- 
f. ler is hereby directed on application of any two of said Commission- 
y ers, with evidence of the advice and consent of the Governor, to draw 
*/ an order on the Treasurer in favor of said Commissioners for the sum 
^ of three hundred pounds in specie, and the said Commissioners are 
hereby authorized to invest the said sum, or so much thereof as they 
shall judge proper, in such goods as are suitable for the Indians 
and the same to transport to the place where said treaty shall be 
held, and they are hereby authorized and empowered to improve 
said money and goods in the most advantageous manner in their 
power to purchase of the Indians occupying said territory, their said 
title to said lands, or any part thereof; and the said Commissioners 
are directed to report the progress of their negotiations to the Gen- 
eral Assembly, or, in their recess, to the Governor and Council, and 
to pursue such further orders from the General Assembly, or from 
the Governor and Council as they may from time to time receive. 
And the Governor is hereby desired to commissionate the said Com- 
missioners accordingly. And in case either of said Commissioners 
shall decline accepting said trust or shall be removed by death or 
otherwise the Governor is also authorized to appoint and commis- 
sionate some other person or persons to fill such vacancy or vacancies 
in the recess of the General Assembly. 

Governor Wolcott had been Commissioner for Indian Affairs, 
and was peculiarly well fitted for this mission. He was a con- 
nection of Parsons, his sister, Ursula, having married Parsons' 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 567 

uncle, Governor Matthew Griswold of Connecticut. James 
Davenport was a descendant of Rev. John Davenport, the 
founder of New Haven. He had served in the Commissary De- 
partment during the War, was Judge of the Common Pleas and 
member of Congress. President Dwight said of him : — " Few 
persons have been more, or more deservedly, esteemed than the 
Hon. James Davenport." 

November 1, Parsons wrote from Pittsburg to his wife 
informing her of his plan, as follows: — 

My Dear. — Two days ago, (Oct. 30th) I arrived at this place 
which Enoch had left the same day for Wheeling, to wdiich place 
I have sent for him to come back, being totally in the dark respecting 
everything in the East. On Wednesday, (the 4th) I expect to set 
off for Lake Erie with Captain Heart to finish the survey of the Con- 
necticut Lands ; it will be a long and arduous tour, but I hope to be 
able to endure it. I have no time to add a word: the conveyance is 
now waiting. Yours affectionately, 

S. H. Parsons. 

Enoch having left Marietta on the 21st of September and 
reached Pittsburgh on his return the 30th of October, would 
seem to have made his journey in a surprisingly short time. The 
news brought by hijn from the East, which the General was so 
anxious to receive before leaving for the Lake, may have related 
to the coming of his co-commissioners from Connecticut. 

Hildreth, in his " Early Settlers of Ohio," says, that " in the 
fall of 1789 General Parsons visited the Connecticut Reserve 
with a view to preliminary arrangements for holding the pro- 
posed treaty with the Indians." We have no record of this visit, 
but, if the statement be correct. General Parsons when he arrived 
at Pittsburgh, October 30, must have been on his way back from 
the Reserve ; for had he come up the River from Marietta, he 
must have met Enoch going down, he having left Pittsburgh for 
Wheeling the very day his father arrived. General Butler was 
at this time living in Pittsburgh. He had been employed by 
Parsons in surveying the Reserve and was interested with him in 
the iNIahoning Salt Springs, holding a contract under Parsons' 
lease from the State of Connecticut, dated the 14th of the pre- 
vious January, to manufacture salt. His business with Butler 



y 



568 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

and preparations for resuming the survey of the Reserve detained 
Parsons in Pittsburgh nearly a week. 

General Parsons left Pittsburgh November 5, one day later 
than he had expected, with Captain Jonathan Heart of the 
Army, who was sent to explore the route by the Big Beaver, 
the Mahoning and Cuyahoga to Lake Erie, the route Parsons 
proposed to take. Upon his arrival at the Blockhouse on the 
Big Beaver, he wrote to his son, Enoch, who had returned to 
Marietta :— 

Block House on Big Beaver, November 7 , 1789. 

My Dear Son. — I am this far on my way to the Lake. My health 
is more favorable to my view than for some days before I left Pitt, 
but I am not entirely free from my cold. However, if I find the 
pursuit will be attended with too great fatigue, I shall endeavor to 
return from the Springs. This day is too bad to travel; I shall there- 
fore stay until morning. I was much disappointed in your not re- 
turning from Wheeling or sending me some message in answer to 
my letter. I have left my papers and about $iOO with General But- 
ler with orders to deliver to you if any misfortune befalls me. Per- 
haps it may be best for you to come to Pitt with Dr. Scott. Of this, 
however, you must judge as all things over the Mountains are un- 
known to me. I at present, apprehend no danger of consequence 
in my route, and, if good weather, I think I can be at Pittsburgh 
again by the first of December. From this to Salt Springs is about 
forty-five miles; from thence to Mahoning, twelve; to the Standing 
Stone on the Cuyahoga, eighteen; to the Lake, thirty; in the whole, 
about one hundred and five miles to the mouth of the Cuyahoga ; 
from thence to the Pennsylvania line, about sixty ; to Venango, about 
forty, where we shall take a boat to Pittsburgh. We expect to go 
about twenty miles a day, except when we run lines, when we can 
make only about half that distance. 

Remember me to my friends and do not let anyone into the particu- 
lars of my route. Perhaps it may be best for me to go over the Moun- 
tains before I return to Marietta. Of this you can better judge. 

Yours affectionately. 
To Enoch Parsons, Marietta. S. H. Parsons. 

Enoch has noted on the original letter: — "Received at Mari- 
etta in November, 1789, being the last letter received by me from 
my much beloved father." 

General Parsons had commenced the sui'\^ey of that part of the 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 569 

Reserve east of the Cuyahoga River in the siiinmcr of 1788, but 
discontinued it for fear of exciting the suspicions of the Indian 5. 
From the preceding letters he appears to have decided to finish 
the work at this time, and to be now on his way to Lake Erie 
for the purpose. He may also have wished to visit his lands 
at the Salt Springs near the iNIahoning. The season chosen for 
continuing the survey was favorable for the purpose. The 
leaves had fallen and the woods were now comparatively open 
and penetrable by the sunlight, making extended vistas possible 
and greatly facilitating the surveyor's work. The country 
which Parsons and Heart were to traverse, was an unbroken 
wilderness with not even a military Post except the little Block- 
house from which the foregoing letter was written, built the year 
before two miles up the Beaver on the present site of New 
Brighton, the old Fort Mcintosh, a mile below the mouth of the 
Beaver having been abandoned and demolished in 1788. The 
Blockhouse stood on a high bluff very near the river, which at 
that point was about two hundred yards wide. Above it were 
three dangerous falls or rapids — the lower falls about six hun- 
dred yards above and in full view of the Blockhouse ; the middle 
falls about one mile above and the upper falls two and one-half 
miles. Indeed, the whole stream was a rapid — the bottom filled 
with boulders about which the swift current eddied, threatening 
destruction to any craft attempting to shoot the falls. At this 
time Lieut. Nathan McDowell was in command at the Block- 
house — a very careful, intelligent, considerate officer and a 
devoted friend of General Parsons. He resigned from the 
Army September 4, 1790. 

Parsons and Heart, as appears from Parsons' letter of the 
7th to his son, left the Blockhouse November 8th, their route 
being along the bridle path leading up the Big Beaver River. 
Finding the journey too fatiguing, or having learned of the 
arrival of the Commissioners from Connecticut, Parsons went 
no farther than the Salt Springs. Captain Heart, parting witli 
him here, " followed the trail west to the Cuyahoga, thence to 
its mouth and down the Lake to Erie," arriving safely at Pitts- 
burgh about the last of December. Having finished his business 
at the Springs, Parsons commenced his return journey, and, on 
the 17th, was descending the Big Beaver in a canoe. Before 



570 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

leaving his camp that morning, he had sent forward his horses 
to the Blockhouse and directed his man to say to Lieut. McDowell 
that he would be with him at dinner; but the man was delayed 
by snow which had fallen during the night, and did not arrive 
until evening. Parsons had with him in the canoe a man with 
a broken leg whom he appears to have been assisting to reach 
the settlements where he could be properly cared for, and the 
canoe seems to have been taken as the most comfortable means of 
carriage. His humanity in this case proved to be at the expense 
of his own life. While running the rapids, his canoe was wrecked 
upon the rocks and both he and the man with him were drowned. 
The accident must have occurred about noon, for at that time 
broken pieces of a canoe and articles known to have belonged to 
Parsons were seen floating by the Blockhouse. Just where it 
happened is not known, but probably at the middle or upper 
falls, for the lower were in plain sight from the Blockhouse and 
the persons who saw the wreckage saw nothing of the disaster. 
Being a fine swimmer, it was tliought that Parsons might have 
reached the shore had not a lameness, caused by his horse falling 
upon his ankle, impeded his movements in the water ; but the 
river being very high at the time and the water chilled by the 
snow of the previous night, it is hardly possible that anyone 
heavily clad as he was, plunged suddenly into that swift and 
swirling current and dashed against the rocks, could have sus- 
tained himself more than a few minutes. 

The news of Parsons' death is said to have been received by 
his son, Enoch, and the Connecticut Commissioners, the very day 
he was expected to join them. " Governor Wolcott, Mr. Daven- 
port and Enoch, the young Register and Probate Clerk," so 
writes a granddaughter of the General, now more than ninety 
years of age, who has often heard from Enoch the distressing 
details of his father's death, " were waiting at Marietta for 
Parsons who was momentarily expected, dinner being delayed for 
him, when a messenger (sent probably by General Harmar or 
Lieut. McDowell) arrived with a note for one of the Commis- 
sioners. As he read it, his eyes inadvertently rested on our 
young uncle who felt it was fatal news, but commanded himself 
as best he could. After dinner Governor Wolcott invited Enoch 
to walk out with him, and when by themselves said : — ' Mr. Par- 




1. Upper Falls. 

2. Middle Falls. 
.<«. Lower Falls. 
4. Blockhouse. 



5. Burying-groiind. 

6. Blockhouse Run. 

7. Bridgewater. 

8. Rochester. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 571 

sons, I have sad news to communicate to you.' ' I know it, Sir,' 
he repHed, ' my father is dead.' " 

The waters of the Big Beaver Creek enter the Ohio at a right 
angle, causing an eddy along the north shore at and below the 
junction of the two streams, in which the drift from the Creek, 
deposited there through a long series of years, has built up a 
considerable stretch of low-lying land between the bluffs and the 
river. As is usually the case in such formations, shoal waters 
and thick-growing sedge must have characterized the shore. At 
the intersection of the right banks of the two streams, there was 
at the time of Parsons' death an island — since washed away — 
formed by a narrow channel cut diagonally from the creek to 
the river, some distance back from the shore. The main channel 
of the Beaver was on the left of the island. 

Immediately upon learning of the accident, Lieut. INfcDowell 
made a careful and persistent search for Parsons' body, explor- 
ing every part of the creek from above the rapids to the Ohio, 
but because of the high water since the disaster, without success. 
The fear was that the body had been carried out into the Ohio ; 
if so, there was little hope of its being found. The General's 
son, Enoch, remained the whole winter at Marietta anxiously 
awaiting the result of the search, hoping against hope. In 
April, despairing of the recovery of his father's remains, he 
resigned his offices in the Territory and returned to his old home 
in Middletown. A month later, on the 14th of May, William 
Wilson, an Indian trader, perhaps while hunting or fishing along 
the Ohio shore, or returning from a trading expedition down the 
river, accidentally discovered the body on the north shore, just 
below the mouth of Beaver Creek. It had not been carried down 
the Ohio as feared, but had remained in the Beaver the winter 
through undisturbed. Coming to the surface when the river 
water grew warm, it had drifted into the Ohio through either the 
narrow or the main channel of the Creek, and been carried by the 
eddy in the current northward to the low-lying, sedge-lined 
shore where it was found. Having made the body secure, Wil- 
son, whose post was at the Blockhouse, reported his discovery to 
McDowell, who went back with him to view and identify the 
remains. The face was found to be badly disfigured and the 
body unrecognizable except by the clothing and the papers, 



572 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

watch and other articles found on it. The papers and other 
articles, Lieut. McDowell took charge of. On the 16th, in the 
presence of and by the direction of Lieut. McDowell, Wilson 
buried the body near the place where it was found. 

The wish of the General's family was that he should be buried 
at Pittsburgh. It was the nearest settlement and was accessi- 
ble by the Ohio River. Marietta would seem to have been more 
appropriate for his last resting place, but Pittsburgh was two 
hundred miles nearer home. As early as the preceding Decem- 
ber, Parsons' eldest son, William Walter, had written to Enoch 
at IMarietta : — " Should the body of our deceased parent be 
found, let it be interred at Fort Pitt ; of this don't fail and I will 
cause a monument to be erected. If he should have been found 
and buried, don't fail, my dear brother, to have him removed to 
Pittsburgh. I shall never forgive you if you do." To those 
unacquainted with the wishes of the family it may seem that 
Lieut. McDowell failed to show proper respect to the General's 
memory in leaving his remains in the wild exposed place where 
they were found, instead of removing them to the Blockhouse — 
only two miles distant by the creek — and burying them there 
with the military honors due to his rank. But IMcDowell was 
fully apprised of the wishes and plans of the family and did 
what he believed would best facilitate the expected early removal 
of the remains to Pittsburgh. Buried near the river, they could 
be more readily transferred to the large boats used on the Ohio, 
than if taken two miles up the swift and shallow Beaver and 
buried at the Blockhouse. Unfortunately, Enoch having re- 
turned to his home in Middletown and General Butler being on 
his way to New York, no one was at hand with authority to act, 
and the removal was delayed much longer than expected. 
Nothing was done about the matter during the summer after 
Butler returned to Pittsburgh, nor in the fall before he left for 
Philadelphia where he spent the winter, and, as he wrote Enoch 
from Philadelphia, nothing could be done before spring. If 
anything was ever done about the matter by General Butler, it 
must have been done in the following spring or summer (1791), 
for he, as well as Captain Heart, was killed, November fourth, 
at St. Clair's disasterous defeat. After Butler's death, the 
plan of removing the remains to Pittsburgh seeems to have been 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 573 

abandoned, for it is certain they never were buried there. The 
behef is that at some time the body was exhumed and interred 
near the Blockhouse, but no evidence of the removal exists except 
the local traditions and the inscriptions on the General's monu- 
ment in the old cemetery at Middletown, Connecticut, erected 
some time after the death of his wife in 1802. The inscription 
on the south side of the monument states that Parsons " was 
drowned in the Great Beaver Creek in the State of Ohio," and 
that " his body is interred on the south bank of Beaver Creek 
near its confluence with the Ohio River." On the east and west 
sides of the monument is inscribed a pedigree of the family 
which states that the General " was buried in New Brighton, 
Penn." 

Beaver Creek, formed by the junction of the Shenango and 
INIahoning, is incorrectly described as " in the State of Ohio," 
whereas it is wholly in the State of Pennsylvania, the Mahoning 
branch only being in Ohio. The general course of the creek is 
southerly, and from the upper part of New Brighton to the 
Ohio River — about three miles — the course is due south. New 
Brighton is on the left bank and extends along the creek about 
one and a half miles. The Blockhouse is in the lower part of the 
town. It follows, therefore, if General Parsons " was buried in 
New Brighton," that " his body is " not " interred on the south 
bank of the Beaver Creek," but on the east bank. This error, 
if not due to imperfect acquaintance with the locality, may 
possibly be accounted for by the fact that between the upper 
part of the New Brighton and old Brighton (now Beaver Falls) 
directly north on the opposite shore, the Beaver runs for a short 
distance in a southwesterly direction, so that looking south from 
old Brighton, the east or left bank would appear to be the south • 
or southerly bank of the creek, as it is in fact at that point. As 
Brighton was settled about the time the Parsons monument was 
erected, and ten or eleven years before New Brighton was laid 
out as a town, it is not improbable that the opposite bank of the 
creek may have been generally regarded and spoken of at that 
time as the south bank. The inscription, however, at best is 
indefinite and ambiguous, for if instead of substituting " east 
bank " for '' south bank " in order to make the first inscription 
conform to the second, " west bank " be substituted, it would 



574 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

point directly to the grave on the bank of the Ohio as the place 
where Parsons at that time lay buried, for the grave was near 
enough the creek to be described with almost as much accuracy 
as " on the west bank of the Beaver near its confluence with the 
Ohio," as "on the north bank of the Ohio just below the mouth 
of the Beaver." 

From examination by an expert of the lettering of these 
inscriptions, it appears that the memorial to the General on the 
south side of the monument and to his wife on the north side 
were inscribed at the same time, which must have been after 
1802, the year Mrs. Parsons died ; and that the pedigrees on the 
east and west sides of the monument were inscribed long after 
the first memorial, perhaps thirty years or more, but prior to 
18-16, for the lettering of the note of Enoch's death that year 
differs in style from all the others. These pedigrees were 
undoubtedly the work of the General's grandson and namesake, 
Samuel Holden Parsons, a graduate of Yale and noted as an 
historian, antiquarian and genealogist, who had traveled exten- 
sively, written much and collected a great mass of material relat- 
ing to his grandfather's life and services which he intended to 
publish, but, failing to do so, much of it, unfortunateh', became 
scattered and lost. He had every opportunity to become 
acquainted with, and doubtless was accurately informed of, all 
the facts respecting the General's burial. New Brighton was 
incorporated as a borough in 1838, about the time these pedi- 
grees were inscribed, and when he wrote on the monument that 
General Parsons " was buried in New Brighton, Penn.," the 
presumption is that he was familiar with the locality and intended 
to state definitely that the grave was within the borough limits ; 
but no corroborating record exists and the local traditions are 
uncertain enough to be applicable to almost any place in the 
neighborhood. The probability however is, that at some time, 
but when or by whom is unknown. Parsons' remains were exhumed 
and re-interred in New Brighton. The exact location of the 
grave no one claims to know. Representatives of the famih" are 
said to have attempted many years ago to ascertain it with 
the intention of erecting a monument over the grave, but appar- 
ently without success, for this intention was never carried out. 
The Blockhouse was built in 1788 and abandoned about 1794, 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 575 

during which period an opening in the forest four or five hundred 
feet south of the Blockhouse and upon the same bluff on which 
the Blockhouse stood, was used as a burying ground by the 
garrison. In this spot, if ever removed from the banks of the 
Ohio, the General must have been laid. A mound of earth, 
perhaps a pile of stones or a blaze on the nearest tree, was all 
that marked his lonely resting place. Since that time civiliza- 
tion has invaded the spot and a growing city has obliterated every 
vestige of the grave which time had left. The departing wilder- 
ness bequeathed to the. new settlers nothing but a vague tradi- 
tion that some general officer, a British officer it was thought, 
had many years ago miserably perished in the rapids of Beaver 
falls and been buried somewhere in the vicinity. It was not until 
fifty years later that the discovery among General Irvine's 
papers of the letter from General Butler which follows, made it 
certain to them that such an accident had happened, and that 
" the sufferer was not a British officer, but Major General 
Samuel Holden Parsons of Connecticut, a Revolutionary officer, 
Chief Judge of the Northwest Territory and one of the Com- 
missioners who negotiated the treaty with the Indians at the 
mouth of the Miami." This letter and those from General But- 
ler, ]Major Ebenezer Denny and Lieut. Nathan McDowell, which 
follow, contain all that is certainly known respecting the cir- 
cumstances of General Parsons' death and the place of his 
burial : — 

Pittsburgh, November 25, 1789. 
Dear General. — I am sorry to inform you that I have every 
reason to fear our old friend, General Parsons, is no more. He left 
this place in company with Captain Heart, (who is sent to explore 
the communication by way of the Beaver to Cuyahoga and the Lake), 
on the 5th instant, in order to see the Salt Springs, and from thence 
he had returned and was coming down Beaver Creek in a canoe. On 
Tuesday, the 17th instant, he had sent a man with his horses from 
the place where he had encamped the night before, and directed 
him to tell Lieut. McDowell, who commanded the Block House below 
the falls of Beaver, that he, (General Parsons) would be there to 
dinner. A snow had fallen in the night which had retarded the 
progress of the man with the horses. At one place on the Beaver 
shore he saw where a canoe had landed, and a person got out to warm 
his feet by walking about, as he saw he hajd kicked against the trees 



576 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

and his tracks to the canoe again. The man did not get down till 
evening, but about noon the canoe, broken in pieces, came by the 
Block House, and some articles known to belong to General Par- 
sons were taken up, and others seen to pass. Lieut. McDowell had 
diligent search made for the body of the General, but made no dis- 
covery. There was one man with a broken leg in the canoe with the 
General, who was also lost. 

Yours &c.. 
To General William Irvine. Richard Butler. 

iNIajor, then Lieutenant, Denny, on his way up the Ohio to 
Pittsburgh, entered in his diary :— 

Nov. 15th, 1789. — High water. 'Lax one mile above Holliday's 
Cove. 

16th. — The River continued to rise. With hard work we made 
Dawson's, opposite the mouth of little Beaver, about eight o'clock. 

17th. — As we turned up Beaver Creek to go to the Block-House, 
two miles up, where an officer and party is stationed, we met General 
Parsons' canoe, with some property, floating down. Found the old 
gentleman, in attempting to pass the Falls about five miles up, was 
cast out and drowned, with one man who accompanied him. Judge 
Parsons was esteemed a useful, enterprising citizen. He had an 
interest in Salt Spring Tract on the Mahoning, and anxious to prove 
the navigation of the Falls practicable, the experiment cost him his 
life. 

18th. — Set out after breakfast and got as high as the lower end 
of Montour's Island. 

19th. — Arrived in Pittsburgh about two o'clock P. M. 

Upon his arrival, INIajor Denn\' reported to General Harmar, 
at Fort Harmar, INIarietta: — 

Pittsburgh, November 22, 1789. 

Dear General. — We did not arrive here until the 19th, owing to 
bad oars, indifferent oarsmen and meeting two smart floods ; how- 
ever, we got safe and had the pleasure to find Major Wyllys, Cap- 
tain Beatty, Captain Mercer, Lieutenant Peters, Ensign Sedam and 
Doctor Allison in town, all on their way to the regiment. They ar- 
rived two days before us. The Governor is expected in town to- 
morrow or next day. His boat is here waiting for him, and Mr. 
William St Clair, who came from Detroit to Fort Harmar last winter, 
accompanies him down the River. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 577 

I am very sorry, indeed, that I have to inform you of the loss of 
one of the most serviceable members of the Western Territory, Gen- 
eral Parsons. He left the old Moravian town up the Beaver early 
on the 7th, on board a canoe, accompanied only by one man. Sent 
his horses down by land. About one o'clock that day, as we entered 
the mouth of the Creek, we met the wreck of a canoe, with a good 
deal of her cargo drifting down, all separately. Part of the loading 
we took up. When we got to the Block-House, Mr. McDowell told 
us they had taken up a piece of the canoe, a bundle of skins, and had 
seen a pair of saddle-bags which were well known to be the Judge's ; 
and the same evening the man arrived with the horses and told us 
he left the Judge early that morning about twenty-five miles up the 
Creek, that he intended to dine that day with Mr. McDowell at the 
Block-House, and the man knew the property which we took up to 
be part of what was in General Parsons' canoe, leaves no doubt of 
his being lost in attempting the Falls of the Beaver. The canoe was 
very much shattered and bottom uppermost, when we met her. Mr. 
McDowell has made search on both sides the Creek, above and 
below the Falls, but can make no further discovery, more than find- 
ing part of the canoe at the foot of a remarkably dangerous fall in 
the Creek, which strengthens the belief that there the old gentleman 
met his fate. 

I shall be glad to be affectionately remembered to Mrs. Harmar, 
while I remain &c., 
To General Harmar. ^- Dennv. 

On the 25th, General Butler wrote to the General's son Enoch, 
at Marietta, and again December 26th : — 

Pittsburgh, November 25, 1789. 
My Dear Sir. — It is with great regret that I feel myself under 
the distressing and disagreeable necessity of informing you of my 
fears on your worthy father's account. Lieut. McDowell informs 
me that on Tuesday, the 17th, in the evening, a man whom General 
Parsons had sent from their encampment with his horses that morn- 
ing, arrived and informed him that the General had set out in a 
canoe with a single man whose leg was broken, and that he had di- 
rected him to tell Lieut. McDowell that he intended dining with him 
the same day. A snow that had fallen prevented the man getting 
in as soon as he expected, but that about mid-day, the canoe came 
past the Block House broken to pieces and some of the things were 
seen afloat. Lieut. McDowell had ever}' possible search made to find 
General Parsons, but without effect. He renewed the search the 



578 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

next day and more extensively, but was still unsuccessful. In truth, 
Sir, it is his opinion that both the General and the poor man with 
him, have ventured rather imprudently and in all probability have 
fallen victims to the rapidity and roughness of the rapids. I shall 
send a man or two to-morrow to make further search for the body 
of your worthy father, though I confess I have doubts of finding it, 
the waters have been so high since the disaster. If it is found, you 
may depend on every respect being paid should you not arrive in 
time, but I really fear he has been carried out into the Ohio; if so, 
there can be little hope of his being found. Your presence, I should 
suppose, will be immediately necessary, as he left his papers with 
me and desired me to give you both advice and assistance, which you 
can depend on as far as it is in my power. 

I am &c.. 
To Enoch Parsons, Marietta. Richard Butler. 

Pittsburgh, December 26, 17S9. 

Dear Sir. — A few days since I received your letter from Lieut. 
McDowell, dated 28th November. The loss of your parent and my 
friend is great, and I regret in addition to that loss, there is no hope 
of recovering the body, although Lieut. McDowell assures me that 
every search has been made and is still continued. Should he be so 
fortunate as to recover it, you may depend on every attention in my 
power to the decency of the interment. 

The matters left in my hands are safe and shall be untouched 
until you arrive, and as my worthy friend left it a charge on me to 
give you both advice and assistance in case of any misfortune hap- 
pening to him, you may depend on anything in my power. I send 
by Dr. Allison the deed of sale for my proportion of the Salt 
Springs and land in. . . . to Col. Meigs to be recorded. This 
I request you to do as soon as possible and transmit the original to 
me. Captain Heart, I believe, can give you some information of 
matters relating to the country in which your interest now lies, that 
may be useful to you, which I have no doubt he will do. 

As the season is like to come on hard, it may be inconvenient for 
you to come up, but nothing will be neglected in search for the body 
that could be done by you. I know of no business that can be at- 
tempted in that country till Spring and until some other arrange- 
ment of the troops takes place that might cover our people, so that 
you may judge of the propriety and utility of coming at your own 
time. 

I am. Sir, your friend. 
To Enoch Parsons at Marietta. Richard Butler. 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 579 

The two following letters from McDowell relate to the articles 
recovered by him belonging to Parsons : — 

Beaver, January 25, 1700. 
Dear Sir. — I received your letter of December 31st last night, 
anid embraced the first opportunity of complying with your request. 
By Mr. Loget's boat you will receive a small box, coat, hat and a tea- 
kettle. The hat is the only article that was last with him. When 
Captain Heart returned, he told me all his papers were in the box 
and he could not do without them. Upon which I suffered him to 
open it and take out a packet marked " Capt. Heart's papers," and 
two small pieces of parchment, which I suppose he informed you 
of. You are under no obligations to me for what I have done. The 
esteem which I had for your father was a sufficient inducement to do 
anything in my power. Believe me, I am truly sorry for the melan- 
choly accident by which I lost one of my best friends. 

I am with esteem your very humble servant, 

. N. McDowell. 

To Enoch Parsons, Marietta. 

The following list is apparently part of a letter (now lost) 
from Lieut. McDowell to Enoch Parsons : — 

Articles found with the remains of the late Judge Parsons, de- 
ceased, on the 1 1th of May, 1790. 

A silver watch with a silver seal. 
A small compass. 
A pocketbook with several papers. 
A silver shoe buckle and knee buckle. 
A pair of mitts and gaiters. 
A silk handkerchief. 
An ink stand and pen knife. 
A pair of spectacles. 

Most of the above articles were too far gone to be saved. I have 
taken all the pains with the papers I possibly could. 

N. McDowell. 

The three following letters from Butler to Enoch Parsons 
relate to the finding and disposition of the General's remains : — 

New York, June 11, 1790. 
Dear Sir. — I hoped the pleasure of seeing you at this place to 
converse on and try to close some matters. In this I am disappointed 
for the present, as I am just setting out for Fort Pitt. I hope you 



580 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

will not pass through without seeing Gen. Irvine and closing his 
business satisfactorily to him. I also wish you to succeed in some 
matters we talked over, as they may be of use to the parties. I can 
say no more on business at present. Let me now tell you that the 
body of your late worthy father and my friend, was found and his 
remains laid in the ground by William Wilson about the l6th of 
last month. This account was given me the very moment I mounted 
my horse to come this way, by Mr. David Duncan. When you come 
to Pitt, I hope we shall be able to have his remains moved to Pitts- 
burgh. It will be a mitigation of his loss even to have that in the 
power of his friends. 

Compliments to j'our mother and the family: 

I am, dear Sir, your friend. 
To Enoch Parsons. R. Butler. 

Pittsburgh, August 2, 1790. 
Dear Sir. — I received your favor 29th June three days since and 
note the contents, which shall do all in my power to comply with. 
I wish I had a copy of the surveys which your late father returned 
for reasons. I have not yet seen Mr. Duncan. He is busy with his 
harvest since he returned from Philadelphia, but have no doubt of 
his compliance with your order. Should the appointment you hint 
at take place, it may be of use to you as well as. ... I wish 
you had the appointment I mentioned to you &c. I have seen Lieut. 
McDowell. He was at the depositing the remains of your worthy 
father and has sent under sealed covers to my care a bundle of 
papers which he dried carefully, a watch, one silver buckle and a few 
other trifling things. There was no money found with the body, but 
since it was found, there has two F. Crowns and some coppers been 
picked up. If I recollect right. Captain Heart told me there was 
money in the portmanteau or saddle-bags. The body was found just 
below the mouth of the Beaver where it is deposited. You shall 
hear from me again soon. Please present me respectfully to your 
mother and family, and be assured that 

I am your friend^ 
To Enoch Parsons, Esq. Richard Butler. 

Philadelphia, Pa., December 18, 1790. 

Dear Sir. — On my arrival here I found your letter of the first 

of November, mentioning other letters and enclosures. These I have 

not seen, nor do I know who brought them. The request you make 

respecting the remains of my friend and your worthy parent should 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 581 

have been complied with had your letter arrived at a season that was 
practicable. This cannot be done until Spring, previous to which I 
shall hope to have the pleasure of seeing you or hearing again, as I 
shall be here through the winter. 

I am &c., 
To Enoch Parsons, Middletown. Richard Butler. 

At the beginning of the War General Parsons was possessed 
of a considerable fortune and enjoyed an income from his pro- 
fession sufficient for the support of his family, but between the 
depreciation of the Government Securities in which he invested 
the bulk of his property when he entered the Army, and the loss 
of his professional income which was not made good by his salary 
even as a General Officer, he came out of the War nearlj^ impov- 
erished. In the Ohio venture he hoped to recuperate his 
fortunes, and doubtless would have done so in time, but he did not 
live long enough to accomplish it. When in 1789, Letters of 
Administration were issued to his son, Enoch, his estates, both in 
Middletown and Marietta, were found to be insolvent. 

The two following letters to Enoch, one from his brother 
William Walter, and the other from his mother, make clear the 
straitened circumstances in which the General's wife and children 
found themselves : — 

December 17th, 1789. 
Dear Brother. — We have received the melancholy account of the 
fate of our dear parent. Your own feelings will enable you to judge 
of ours, but we must not unman ourselves in a manner unbecoming 
us. We are to consider that it is a scene through which we all must 
sooner or later pass. We can, my dear brother, reflect with the most 
exquisite consolatory pleasure that our dear father lived a strictly 
virtuous life, believed in the Divine Revelations and made them his 
rule of faith, and, having persevered in that belief and line of con- 
duct for upwards of fifty years, we know he must have laid down 
his life with a firm reliance and certainty of awaking in the blessed 
regions of his God and Creator. A virtuous man never fears or 
dreads the pangs of death. My dear brother, we must not let our 
grief deprive us of our reason ; we must consider that the care of the 
family devolves upon us and see that every measure which prudence 
can dictate be taken to make the little flock comfortable and happy. 
I will be their father so long as I have life, and my estate to the last 



582 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

copper shall be theirs as well as mine. You will take every precau- 
tion with respect to the estate with you; I shall take care here and 
we must see that it is so placed as not to be wrested from us and 
beggar the children. Colonel Wadsworth will be their patron and 
friend. All Esther's relatives will do everything in their power to 
assist a distressed and helpless family. It will be best for you to 
come on here as soon as possible with the papers. Should the body 
of our deceased parent be found, let it be interred at Fort Pitt; of 
this don't fail and I will cause a monument to be erected. If he 
should have been found and buried, don't fail, my dear brother, to 
have him removed to Pittsburg. I shall never forgive you if you do. 

Your afflicted brother. 
To Enoch Parsons at Marietta. Wm. W. Parsons. 

MiDDLETOWN, February 15th, 1790. 
My Dear Son. — ^Nlr. Meigs was kind enough to call this day and 
politely offer to carry a letter for me to you. I feel but little courage 
to attempt writing and the complicated miseries around seem often- 
times too much for me. The late death of your father is so dis- 
tressing that many times I am obliged to try to divert my mind from 
the thought, or it would sink all my drooping spirits ; and then again 
how is it possible to forbear deploring such a loss as he is to our 
family and to those at home insensible of their irreparable loss. We 
cannot lament the loss of your father too much. May these grievous 
afflictions work for our good. Remember his good advice as his last 
words, " we must go to him, he won't return to us." I am exceed- 
ingly concerned for you. I fear your troubles will be too hard for 
you. I know they must be great. Don't be concerned for me. I 
hope, sincerely, nothing will prevent you returning soon to us. Wil- 
liam, I expect, will write you upon business and give you a particular 
account how matters have been conducted. I flatter myself that 
some way may be opened that you may be permitted ytt to spend 
the remainder of your life in this part of the world. I find we have 
some good friends, and I think they will prove themselves such, who 
were such to your deceased father. We have their assurances. May 
I soon hear from you. To see you soon would be the greatest satis- 
faction and pleasure that I could conceive of in this transitory life, 
and none prays more ardently for your spiritual and temporal wel- 
fare than 

Your Affectionate Mother, 
To Enoch Parsons at Marietta. ]Mehetable Parsons. 

The children of General Parsons living at the time of his 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 583 

death, were : — William Walter, twenty-seven years old, who, in 
178-1, had married Esther Phillips of Middletown ; Lucia, then 
twenty-five, who, in 1785, had married Stephen Titus Hosmer, 
then a yoimg lawyer just settled in practice at INIiddletown, but 
subsequently Chief Justice of the State; Enoch, just twenty, 
whose good friends at the Session of the General Assembl}^ in 
the May following his return from Ohio, (1791) secured for him 
the appointment of High Sheriff of Middlesex County, an office 
he held for twenty-eight years. During his long life he amassed 
a large fortune, and for many years and until the expiration of 
its charter, was President of the Connecticut Branch of the 
Bank of the United States. Mehetable, a girl of seventeen, 
whom the General hoped to have taken with him to the Terri- 
tory, who, in 1796, married Dr. William Brenton Hall of INIiddle- 
town ; Phebe, then fourteen, who in 1797 became Mrs. Samuel 
Tiffin ; Samuel Holden, then twelve years old, who married Esther 
Sage of ]Middletown, and died in the West Indies in 1811; and 
jNIargaret, then a child of four, who was twice married, first, to 
Stephen Hubbard of Middletown, and second, to Alfred Lathrop 
of Carthage, New York. Among her grandchildren was, George 
Parsons Lathrop, well known in the literary world, who married 
Rose, daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

The house in Middletown where Parsons lived, on INIain street 
opposite the Park, is still standing. In the old cemetery on the 
same street, surrounded by the graves of his kindred, is a marble 
monument which records his death, but marks an empty grave. 
The inscription on the front is : " In memory of the Honorable 
Samuel Holden Parsons, who was drowned in the Great Beaver 
Creek in the State of Ohio, the 17th day of November, A. D., 
1789, aged 52 years. His body is interred on the south bank 
of Beaver Creek near its confluence with the Ohio River." On 
the rear : — " In memory of Mrs. Mehetable Parsons, relict of 
the Hon. Samuel H. Parsons, who died Aug. 7th, A. D., 1802, 
aged 59 years." Inscribed on the east and west sides is the 
Parsons line from the first settler. On the west side : — " I. 
Benjamin Parsons, born in England; died in Springfield, Mass., 
Aug. 24, 1689. II. Ebenezer, son of Benjamin, bom in 
Springfield Nov. 17, 1688; died Sept. 23, 1752. HI. Rev. 
Jonathan, son of Ebenezer, born Nov. 30, 1705 ; died in New- 



584 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

buryport, July 19, 1776." On the east side:— "IV. Samuel 
Holden, son of Jonathan, born in Lyme, Conn., May 14, 1737; 
died Nov. 17, 1789, and was buried at New Brighton, Penn. He 
was a Major General in the American Army of the Revolution 
and from 1787 to the day of his death, was first Judge in and 
over the Territory of the United States Northwest of the river 
Ohio. V. Enoch, son of Samuel Holden, born in Lyme, Nov. 
5, 1769 ; died in Hartford, July 9, 1846." 

General Parsons was a man of high moral and intellectual 
qualities. In religion, he was a Puritan, following in the foot- 
steps of his honored father, as he also followed him in patriotic 
emotions, aspirations and acts. In the law he was able and 
successful, to the practice of which he was admitted three years 
after his graduation at Harvard. His election eighteen times 
to the General Assembly, proves him to have been a favorite with 
the people. In the Legislature he rendered important service to 
the State. He was one of the earliest and most strenuous in 
opposing the encroachments of Great Britain. " The idea of 
inalienable allegiance to any Prince or State," wrote Parsons to 
Samuel Adams, " is an idea to me inadmissible ; and I cannot see 
but that our ancestors when they first landed in America, were as 
independent of the Crown or King of Great Britain as if they 
never had been his subjects." He was the first to suggest a 
general Congress of all the Colonies in order to secure concert 
of action, and did not relax his efforts until delegates were 
elected and the Congress assembled. As a member of the Com- 
mittee of Correspondence, he was unremitting in his endeavors 
to arouse the people and stir up a spirit of resistance. The 
possible consequences to himself he fearlessly disregarded. To 
Tryon's brutal threats he defiantly replied: "A justifiable re- 
sistance against unwarrantable invasions of the natural and 
social rights of mankind, if unsuccessful, I am sensible, accord- 
ing to the fashion of the world, will be called rebellion ; but when 
successful, will be viewed as a noble struggle for everything 
important in life. Whether I am now considered as a revolted 
subject of the King of Great Britain, or in any other light by 
his subjects, is very immaterial and gives me little concern; 
future ages, I hope, will do justice to my intentions, and the 
present to the humanity of my conduct." Within ten days after 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 585 

the fight at Lexington, he set on foot the expedition to surprise 
Ticonderoga. A few weeks later, he led in person a regiment to 
Boston and was present at the battle of Bunker Hill. All 
through the war he was a rank, aggressive Republican, intoler- 
ant of the shortcomings of Congress, and impatient of the 
dilatoriness and apathy of the States. In the Cause of Inde- 
pendence he was a positive, compelling force, vigilant, active, 
uncompromising, fruitful in plans and suggestions, full of con- 
fidence and hope himself and a source of inspiration and encour- 
agement for others, and never once lost faith in the justice of 
the Cause or in its final successful outcome. There is less of 
doubt and discouragement in his letters than in those of Wash- 
ington or of most of the Revolutionary writers. Even John 
Adams said after the war was over, " there was not a moment 
during the Revolution when I would not have given everything I 
possessed for a restoration of the state of things before the 
contest began, provided we could have had a sufficient security 
for its continuance." Parsons never conceded so much as this. 
He never uttered a word in favor of a settlement on the old 
basis. This idea had many adherents in Connecticut and was 
the main idea held out by the British to defeat Independence ; 
but with Parsons, as with Washington, it was Independence or 
nothing. He had sacrificed the interests of his family, his prop- 
erty and his health to the Cause, and his determined, uncompro- 
mising spirit would consent to nothing short of unconditional 
surrender on the part of the British Crown. 

General Parsons' military career was honorable and successful. 
Had he enjoyed the advantages of a military education, or 
possessed the military experience of some of the other generals, 
it might have been more brilliant, though perhaps no more use- 
ful. He made no great reputation as a fighting general, for 
few opportunities occurred for testing his qualities in this direc- 
tion. There was little fighting during the Siege of Boston. In 
the retreat from New York, the panic-stricken troops could not 
be forced into action, notwithstanding the united efforts of 
Washington, Putnam, Parsons and his regimental officers. At 
West Point and in the Highlands, where he was stationed during 
the greater part of the war, scarcely a hostile shot was fired. He 
was never out of Massachusetts, New York or Connecticut, 



586 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 

except when sent with his brigade to reinforce Washington in 
New Jersey, and then the British were in full retreat. The 
right of the army was not seriously engaged with the enemy 
during any of the time which he commanded it. But his nu- 
merous opinions as to the proper disposition of the army called 
for by Washington from time to time, abundantly show that his 
generalship was broad and his grasp of the military situation 
comprehensive. When instrusted Avith an independent command, 
he seems to have been uniformly successful. In the fight on 
Battle Hill in Greenwood Cemetery, he twice drove the British 
from the field. In his two expeditions to Long Island, he accom- 
plished fully the objects in view. When Tryon invaded 
Connecticut and burned Norwalk, with the aid of his Continentals 
he drove him to his ships. His winter attack upon Morrisania 
displayed admirable generalship and won for him the thanks of 
Congress. 

But the great field of his usefulness was in the discharge of 
duties not strictly military. To raise and maintain an army, 
not how to fight it, was the great problem of the war. As the 
war progressed, the New England States seemed to lose some- 
what of that enthusiasm with which they began the struggle. 
In the absence of immediate danger, the spirit of gain seems 
to have dominated their feelings of patriotism. Instead of 
hurrying en masse to the field of their own accord, infinite urging 
and pressing became necessary to secure recruits. It was exceed- 
ingly difficult to induce the States to furnish even their quotas 
of men and supplies, and the army was in constant danger of 
being disbanded through their apathy and neglect. It was 
under these circumstances that Parsons' influence and address 
enabled him to render a vastly greater service to his country than 
he could have done in the field, by securing from an unwilling 
people the men and supplies without which the war could not be 
carried on. As we have seen in his letters to Trumbull, he was 
compelled at times to use plain language, but the very people he 
was severe with showed their confidence in his ability and patriot- 
ism by intrusting him with the defense of the State. In this most 
important, if not conspicuous service, tact, management, busi- 
ness talent, diplomacy and statesmanship — qualities which Par- 
sons possessed in a marked degree — were called for rather than 



GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS 587 

mere generalship. The same quahties stood him in good stead 
after the War when called upon to negotiate treaties with the 
Indians in the Northwest Territory ; and again, when under the 
Ordinance of 1787 it became his duty as Chief Judge of the 
Western Territory, in conjunction with Governor St. Clair and 
Judge Varnum, to frame and enact a Code of Laws for its 
government, a Code which must have been very largely his work 
and which stands as a monument to his industry, good judgment 
and intimate and accurate legal knowledge. The death of Gen- 
eral Parsons at this time was a great loss to the Territory, in 
which, had his life been spared, he must have proved a very con- 
spicuous figure. 

Headley, in his " Washington and his Generals," describes 
Parsons " as one of those generals whose services are not to be 
measured by the battles they fought. They hold a prominent 
place in the military history of our country, though not so con- 
spicuous in its military scenes. General Parsons was a man of 
strong intellect, a staunch patriot and rendered his country great 
service. The name is one of the first in New England." Hollis- 
ter, in his " History of Connecticut," speaks of him " as one 
of the most heroic soldiers, as well as one of the best lawyers 
and most scholarly writers of the Revolutionary Period ; " 
and again, " as one of the bravest and most accomplished 
officers of the Revolutionary Era. . . ." George Ban- 
croft, in his " History of the Constitution of the United 
States," characterizes him as " an early and a wise and 
resolute patriot." Dr. Loring, in his address at Marietta on 
the 95th Anniversary of the Settlement of Ohio, refers to him 
as " a sagacious companion of Washington, one of the fore- 
most and ablest citizens of the State of his adoption ; " and 
Senator Hoar, in his oration on the same spot in 1888, 
eulogizes him as " soldier, scholar, judge, one of the strongest 
arms on which Washington leaned, who first suggestea 
the Continental Congress, from the story of whose life could 
almost be written the history of the Northern War." 



INDEX 



Adams, John, 14, H, 46, 54, 55 

Adams, Samuel, x?0 

Alden, Major, 332 

Allen, Col. Ethan, 25 

Andr^, Major John, 305-7 

Army, strength of, 48, 187, 294; in 
1778 at White Plains, 189; posi- 
tion of, 194; reorganization for 
1781, 318; at Peekskill, 364; joins 
French army at N. Y., 368; al- 
lied armies march to Yorktown, 
392 

Arnold, Benedict, 5, 24, 93, 301, 
302, 304-5, 307, 308, 310, 311 

Arnold's treason, singular circum- 
stance connected with, 307-311 

Babcock, Adam, 24 

Barnes, Thomas, 174 

Battles of: Bemis Heights, 112; 
Brandywine, 111; Bunker Hill, 
30-31; Germantown, 111; Harlem 
Heights, 69; Long Island, 50-58; 
Monmouth, 188; Quaker Hill, 
192; Saratoga, 112; White Plains, 
72 

Barton, Williara, Judge, N. W. 
Ter., 563 

Benson, Egbert, 499 

Big Beaver Creek, 569, 571, 573 

Billy "The Midshipman," 32, 192, 
266, 284, 287, 288, 292 

Bishop, Samuel, 19 

Bissell, H., 338 

"Black Hall Boys," 8 

Blockhouse on Big Beaver, 568-574 

Board of General Officers on Andr6 
trial, 306; as to Plan of Cam- 
paign of 1781, 361; Report, 362-3 

Board of War, 409 

Boom over Hudson at West Point, 
141 

Boston, Siege of, 29-38; Evacuation 
of, 38 



Boston Port Bill, 17 

Brackett's Tavern, 515 

Breck, Rev. Mr., 528 

Brooks, John, 261 

Brown, Col. John, 25 

Bunch of Grapes Tavern, 510 

Burgoyne's Campaign, 104, 106; 
surrender, 112; his estimate of 
American troops, 68 

Burnett as to first settlers of Ohio, 
495 

Burr, Aaron, 186 

Burrall, Col. Chas. E., 3 

Bushnell, David, and his Submarine 
Torpedo Boat, 60 

Butler, Gen. Richard: Indian Com- 
missioner with Parsons; left Car- 
lisle with future President, Col. 
James Monroe, 470, 564, 572, 575, 
577, 578, 580 

Buzzard's Bay, Gen. Grey's raid on 
towns of, 199 

Carlisle, Pa., 473, 519 
Carrington, Edward, 472, 498 
Carroll, Chas., of Carrolton, 12 
Carter, Robert Nicholas, 35 
Catharine of Russia; her reply to 

George III., 35 
Chandler, Col., 250 
Chapman, Capt. James, 29 
Chatterton Hill, 72 
Clarke, Gen. Geo. Rogers: Indian 
Commissioner with Parsons and 
Butler ; the " Hannibal of the 
West," 470 
Clark, Maj. John, Jr., 276 
Clinton, Gov. George, 73, 79, 110, 
125, 127, 135, 140, 143, 144, 145, 
146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 161, 170, 
174, 185, 199, 207, 211, 240, 248, 
282, 430 
Clinton, Sir Henry, 51, 65, 106, 115, 
116, 120; assumes command Br. 



589 



590 



INDEX 



Army, 187; Washington suggests 
to Parsons his capture, 158; ex- 
pedition up the Hudson in 1777, 
116; in 1779, 24:7; S. Carolina, 
280; personality and character, 
428; 223, 306, 456 

Clinton, Gen. James, 43-59; 116 

Clothing, unequal distribution of, 
211 

Coast Guards, 2 

Code of Laws by Gov. and Judges 
for N. W. Ter., 524; differ as to 
powers, 524-5 

Coit, Capt. William, 28; Commands 
Privateer Harrison, 29 

Coit, Joshua, 525 

Collier, Sir George., 255 

Colonial Policy of Great Britain, 
16-17 

Committee of Cooperation. 292; of 
Pay-Table, 27 

Conciliatory Bill of Lord North, 
178 

Congress, incompetency of, 21 1 ; 
favoritism, 241 ; arbitrariness, 
303-4; indiscreet appointments of, 
315; thanks to Parsons and men 
for Morrisania expedition, 335 

Connecticut Charter Boundaries, 
548; adverse decision as to her 
claims, 549 

Connecticut Division, complimented 
by Baron Steuben, 270; unsur- 
passed by any corps in army, 273; 
assigned right of first line in at- 
tack on N. Y. in 1781, 367 

Connecticut Line, 1-3; militia, 2; 
general officers and service, 4-5; 
troops at Boston, 36; homesick- 
ness, 36; organization for 1776, 
37; eight regiments for three 
years, 85; reorganized in 1778, 
191; destitution of, '226; disaf- 
fection of in 1780, 370 

Connecticut Reserve, 549; Parsons' 
syndicate to buy 24,000 acres, 
549; agreement with, 550; dis- 
position of by State, 553-4 

Connecticut Village, 318, 409 

Constitution of LT. S. submitted to 
Congress, May 28, 1787: to 
States, 512; sdopted by Conn. 



Convention by a three-fourths 
vote, 512 
Cook, Gov., of R. L, 36 
Cornwallis Lord, 51, 53, 73, 81, 393 
Councils of War; Brooklyn Aug. 
1776, 57; N. Y., 63; White Plains, 
Nov. 1776, 76; Fredericksburgh, 
194 
County Court opened at Marietta, 

526* 
Courts-Martial, 213-214; judg- 
ments of, 215 
Cow-Boys and Skinners, 390 
Currency, the depreciation of, 266 
Cutler, Rev. Manasseh; character 
and ability, 503; agreed that he 
should continue negotiations 
with Congress, 503; visit to Par- 
sons in Middletown and journey 
to N. Y., 503-4; suggests amend- 
ments to Ordinance of 1787, 505; 
difficulties in securing favorable 
action of Congress, 508-10; over- 
comes them by supporting St. 
Clair for Governor instead of 
Parsons, and doubling amount of 
his purchase for benefit of Duer 
and friends, 508-9; finds Par- 
sons prefers to be first Judge if 
St. Clair is to be Governor, 510; 
completes contract for nearly 
6,000,000 acres of land, 511; 
settlement of Ohio regarded as 
an event of national importance, 
545; his visit to Marietta, 530-32 

Danbury: Tryon's raid on, 93; 117, 
194, 202, 292, 294, 302, 352 

Dane, Nathan, 497 

Davenport, Abraham, 391 

Davenport, James, commissioned 
with Parsons to treat with In- 
dians on Conn. Reserve, 565 

Deane, Silas, 18, 19, 23, 24, 26 

De Kalb, Gen., 194, 273 

De Lancey, Col. James; captured, 
his imprisonment demanded, 
125; demand seconded by Gov. 
Clinton, 126 

De Lancey, Gen. Oliver; burning of 
his Bloomingdale home, 132 



INDEX 



591 



1 ? 



De Lancej', Major Oliver, 431, 436, 
438, 440 

Denny, Major, Ebenezer, 517, 576 

D'Estaing, Count, arrives with 
French Fleet, 191 

Devens, Judge, 420 

De Wurmb, Col., 437 

Dickinson, Gen., li?4; descent on 
Staten Island, 133 

Dobb's Ferry, 367, 368, 389 

Doughty, Major John, 523; de- 
molishes Fort Mcintosh, 523 

Duer, Col. William, 83; Cutler 
dines with him; is astonished at 
the variety of wines and liquors 
on his table, 505 

Duportail, Gen., 361 

Durkee, Col. John, 37, 318 

Dvvight, Rev. Dr. Timothy, 162; 
chaplain Parsons' brigade, 163; 
dedicates to Washington his 
poem, " Conquest of Canaan by 
Joshua," 163; correspondence as 
to, etc., 163, 164, 165, 237, 339, 
567 

Dyer, Eliphalet, 18, 23, 548 

Edwards Rev. Jonathan, 8 
1 Ellsworth, Chief Justice Oliver, 10, 

558 
Elmore, Col. Samuel, 3 
Emmerick's Chasseurs, 122, 127, 367 
Encampment at White Plains of 

Washington's Armj^ in 1778, 189 
Evans, Rev. Dr., 229 

Fairfield, Conn., 251, 255 

Fairfield Co. investigation, 339; 
testimony, list of accused, 344; 
356 

Falls of the Ohio, 478 

Flour, Scarcity of, 207 

Forts: Arnold, 184, 185; Clinton 
and Montgomery, 116, 123; Fin- 
ney, 477; Griswold, 217; Harmar, 
516, 523; Mcintosh, 474, 523; 
Washington, 77; AVilliam Henry, 
16 

Fredericksburgh Precinct, 194, 203 

French Army rendezvous at Provi- 
dence, 364; its march to the Hud- 
son, constant ovation, 365 



French fleet under D'Estaing, 191, 
192; that under Admiral Ternay 
arrived, 296 

French and Indian War, 15-16; 
claims of English and French, 
15; Canada ceded to the English, 
15-16 

French treaty ratified by Congress, 
187 

Gage, Gen. Thomas, 30 

Gates, Gen. Horatio, 33, 133; com- 
mands Nor. Dept., 173; his array 
joins Putnam after Burgoyne's 
surrender, 133; commands Eas- 
tern Dept., 193, 198, 199; letters, 
174, 175, 176, 177, 411; his home 
in Va., 566-7 

George III., 35 

Germain, Lord Geo., 59, 68, 269 

Glover, Gen. John, 102, 190 

Governing Families in New Eng- 
land; the family circle of Ur- 
sula Wolcott a notable example 
of, 9-10 

Government Securities, deprecia- 
tion of, 289-90 

Governor and Council of Conn., 
192, 395, 396 

Graham, Col. Morris, 174 

Grant, Lt. Col., 5-2; killed, battle 
Long Island, 53 

Gray, Col., 351 

Great Britain, cost of war and re- 
sults, 416 

Greene, Gen. Nathaniel; asks leave 
to resign, 227; indignation at 
threatened removal, 303-4; com- 
mands at Tappan at time of Ar- 
nold's defection, 298 

Greenleaf, Moses, 12 

Greenleaf, Simon, 12 

Griswold, Judge John, 8-10 

Griswold, Matthew, 9 

Griswold, Gov. Matthew, 10, 18, 548 

Grosvenor, Col., 233 

Hall, Gov. of Vt., 24 
Hall, Dr. William B., 583 
Hamilton, Alex., 211, 298 
Hancock, John, 13, 22, 43 
Hand, Gen., 473 



592 



INDEX 



Harmar, Gen. Joseph, 5-20, 570 

Harrisburgh, 473 

Harrison, Col., 75, 77 

Harvard Coll., 6; confers Master's 
degree on Parsons in 1781, 360 

Hawthorne, Rose, 583 

Hazen, Col., 222, 231, 326, 327-8 

Heart, Capt. Jonathan, 485-6, 568 

Heath, Gen. William, 33, 39, 41, 60, 
71, 77, 78, 79, 81, S2, 83, 84, 349, 
250, 320, 334, 336, 337, 369, 394, 
405, 406, 407, 410 

Heister, Gen., 51, 59 

Hendricks, John and Baker, 277 

Heron, William, of Redding Ridge, 
Conn., 419; character and connec- 
tions, 421-3; member Conn. 
Legislature, 420; of convention to 
ratify Fed. Const., 422, 512; stood 
well with the leading men of 
Conn., and believed to be a " Con- 
sistent National Whig," 422; em- 
ployed by Gen. Parsons as a spy, 
and found faithful, 418; recom- 
mended by him to Washington in 
a letter, 418; letters and conver- 
sations noted in Sir Henry Clin- 
ton's " Secret -Service Record," a 
letter to Gov. Robertson, 312, and 
one in 1782 to Clinton, have raised 
a question as to Heron's loyalty, 
and been made the basis of a 
slander against Parsons, 420; 
though his evident purpose was 
to gain the <"onfidence of the 
enemy, the more readily to secure 
information, 424; his methods of 
espionage, 424-8; gullibility of 
Clinton, 428-9; his Adj. General, 
428-9; facts showing that he was 
lying to the enemy, 430-48; al- 
leged letter from Parsons to 
Heron, 448; Heron cuts off sig- 
nature, 449; comments on, 454-6; 
letter. Parsons to Mumford, four 
days later, contrasted, 449-454; 
comments on letter to Clinton, 
456-9; estimate of Heron, 459; 
the annotator of the " Record " 
and his mistaken conclusions, 458-9 
Heth, Col., 488 
Hewlett, Col. Richard, 108, 109 



Hickey, plot to assassinate Wash- 
ington, 42 
Highlands, where best defended, 121 
Hillhouse, Senator James, 10 
Hinman, Col. Benjamin, 1 
Hoar, Senator George F., 420 
Horseneck (Greenwich), 73, 110, 
124, 125, 134, 201, 215, 233, 327, 
329, 336, 403, 472 
Hosmer, Stephen Titus, Chief Jus- 
tice 10, 464 
House of Burgesses of Va., 19 
Howe, Gen. Lord, 31, 43, 48, 51-58, 

65, 71, 101, 102, 111 
Howe, Gen. Robert, 286, 293, 300, 

320, 323, 389, 393 
Hubbard, Stephen, 583 
Hull, Col., 327 

Humphreys, David, 163; poem, 205 
Huntington Bay, 89, 244, 297, 396, 

399, 403 
Huntington, Jabez, 28 
Himtington, Gen. Jedidiah, 2, 5, 40, 
48, 202; mutiny in his brigade, 
208; 237, 273, 324 
Huntington and, Chester, 551 
Hutchins, Thos. U. S. Geographer 
General, 504 

Inaugural ceremonies, 513-14 
Independence of U. S. recognized 

by France, 187 
Indians' plea for their lands, 474-5 
Inoculation of troops, 88-90 
Instructions as *^o survey of Conn. 

Reserve, 550 
Irvine, Gen. William, 473, 575 

Jackson, Isaac Rand, 12 
Jameson, Col., 305 
Jay, John, 223, 242, 243, 263, 283 
JeflFerson, Thos., 506; his names for 

State of N. W. Ter., 506 
Johnson, William Samuel, 461, 464, 

466, 467, 468, 469, 533 
Jones, John Paul; captures Serapis 

and Countess of Scarborough, 271 
Jones, Joseph, 291 
Judges, Superior Court of Conn., 

462 
Jumel Mansion, 63-4 



INDEX 



593 



Kingstreet, 74, R2 

Kingston, burned by Gen. Vaughn, 

122 
Kips Bay Affair, 64-68 
Kissam, Maj., 437 
Knowlton, Col. Thos., 30; his corps 

of Rangers, 69; killed on Harlem 

Heights, 69 
Knox, Gen. John, 324, 361, 512 
Knyphausen, Gen., 71, 76, 111, 280, 

368 
Kosciusko, Thaddeus, the Polish 

patriot, 161 

Lafayette, Marquis de, joins Sulli- 
van in Rhode Island with part 
of Parsons' brigade in 1788, 190; 
in April, 1780, at Morristown, 
commands Parsons' Division dur- 
ing his absence in Conn., 273; in 
July meets Rochambeau at New- 
port and, en route, calls on 
Trumbull, Parsons and Wads- 
worth at Hartford, 296 

Lamb, Col., 85, 123, 237 

Lane, Phebe, 288 

Lathrop, Alfred, 583 

Lathrop, Geo. Parsons, 583 

Laurens, Mr., Pres't of Congr., 128 

Lauzun, Duke of, 364, 366, 367, 368, 
390 

Law, Richard, 23 

Lawrence, Oliver, Parsons' A. D. 
C, 351 

Lebanon, Conn., Winter quarters of 
Lauzun's Legion, 318 

Lee, Gen. Chas., Maj. Gen., 33; col- 
lects troops in Conn., 39; com- 
mands in Conn., 76 

Lee, Arthur, opinion as to Pitts- 
burgh's future, 476 

Lee, Ezra, operates Bushnell's Tor- 
pedo boat, 60 

Leggett, Abraham, 125 

Letters from General Parsons to: 
John Adams, 54, 55 
Samuel Adams, 20 
Benedict Arnold, 302, 302, 308 
Col. Atlee, 265 
H. Bissell, of Windham, 338 
Board of War, 409 



John Brooks, 261 

Mr. Burr, 346 

Col. Edward Carrington, 472 

His children, 480, 517 

Gov. Geo. Clinton, 73, 127, 135, 

143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 

150, 185, 207, 240, 248, 282, 430 
Sir Henry Clinton, 147 
Committee of Congress, 292 
Conn. Gen. Assembly, 25 
Council at Fort Finney, address, 

483 
Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth, 

558 
Gen. Horatio Gates, 175, 176, 177, 

411, 557 
Gov. and Council of Conn., 192, 

395, 396 
Gen. Nathaniel Greene, 225, 227 
Col. Grosvenor, 233 
Alex. Hamilton, 298 
Gen. Wm. Heath, 60, 405, 410 
Gen. Robert Howe, 286, 293, 300 
John Jay, 223, 242, 243 
Senator Wm. Samuel Johnson, 

461, 464, 466, 467, 468, 469, 533 
Joseph Jones, 291 
Judges, Sup. Ct. Conn., 462 
Col. Lamb, 237 

Mr. Laurens, Prest. Congress, 128 
Eliphalet Lockwood, 300 
Mr. Lovell, 241 
Capt. Thomas Machin, 157 
Gen. Alex. McDougall, 171, 172, 

206, 207, 228, 232, 233 
Thos. Mumford, 138, 139, 139, 

184, 188, 189, 256, 262, 287, 452 
Norwalk Selectmen, 350 
Enoch Parsons, 562, 568 
Thomas Parsons, 80 
Wm. W. Parsons, 471 
Prest. of Congress, 415 
Gen. Israel Putnam, 114, 115 
Col. Root, 265 
Gen. St. Clair, 552, 563 
Gen. Silliman, 230 
Mr. Sproat, Com. of prisoners, 

289 
Troops on Setauket exped'n, 109 
Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, 117, 

118, 119, 123, 159, 217, 220, 221, 

22-2, 227, 239, 299, 319, 324, 



594 



INDEX 



334-5, 336, 337, 341-343, 345, 
375, 376, 380, 398, 399, 40;2, i03, 
407, 409, 431 
Joseph Trumbull, 34 
Rev. Mr. Trumbull, 300 
Gen. Tryon, 129, 130, 258 
Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth, 163, 

175, 321, 471 
Lieut. Daniel Waite, 89 
Rev. Dr. \Vm. Walter, 181, 285 
General Wasliington, 86, 87, 90, 
90,90,92, 92, 93, 93, 94, 95, 97, 
100, 102,105,105, 106,135, 152, 
153, 156, 158, 164, 173, 185, 200, 
201, 208, 209-10, 322, 238, 230, 
231, 234, 236, 241, 243, 347, 349, 
296, 353, 374, 381, 284, 292, 294, 
252, 298, 302, 302, 307, 307, 307- 
8, 316, 317, 323, 326, 340, 341, 
346, 350, 354, 355, 357, 358, 359, 
370, 374, 390, 411, 414, 414, 418, 
519 
Col. Samuel B. Weob, 108, 110, 

138, 178, 179, 360 
His wife, 31, 82, 103, 192, 291, 
292, 315, 335, 520, 527, 533, 536, 
554, 556, 560, 562, 565, 567 
President Willard, account of 
Parsons' discoveries in the 
West, 489-495 

Letters to General Parsons from: 
John Adams, 14, 44, 46 
Richard Butler, 564 
Gov. George Clinton, 145, 161 
Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, 237, 

239 
John Hancock, 43 
Gen. Wm. Heath, 78, 250, 320, 

320, 404, 406, 406-7 
Wm. Heron, 442, 443 
Gen. Jedidiah Hunting-ton, 324 
Huntington and Chester, 550 
Gen. John Knox, 512 
Benjamin Lincoln, Jr., 488 
Col. Malcom, 185 
Gen. McDougall, 171 
David Parsons, 410 
Gen. Israel Putnam, 108, 127 
Gen. St. Clair, 552 
Stephen St. John, 401 
Joseph Strang, 144 



Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, 345, 
377, 388, 397 

Gov. Tryon, 129 

Col. Ujjham, Br. Com. of prison- 
ers, 400 

Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth, 322 

Rev. Dr. Wm. Walter, 314, 463 

Gen. Washington, 87, 88, 91, 95, 
99, 151, 152, 156, 158, 159, 167, 
234, 253, 275, 339, 341, 351, 355, 
357, 371, 389 

Gen. David Waterbury, 403 

Col. S. B. Webb, 338 ' 

Letters from General Washington 
to: 
Army on success at Morrisania, 

334 
Benedict Arnold, 301, 302, 304 
Board General officers in High- 
lands, 361 
Robert Nicholas Carter, 35 
Maj. John Clark, Jr., 276 
Committee of Cooperation, 292 
Congress as to location of 

troops, 201 
Gen. Dickinson, 134 
Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, 164 
Gen. Greene as to threatened re- 
moval, 303-4 
Gen. Wm. Heath, 78, 79, 81, 83, 

330, 334, 336, 337, 394 
Gen. Lafayette, 393 
Gen. Lincoln, 81 
Chancellor Livingston, 166 
Gen. Maxwell, 377 
Gen. McDougall, 94, 168, 170 
Brigadier Nelson in Va., 190-91 
General Parsons, 87, 88, 91, 95, 
99, 151, 153, 156, 158, 159, 167, 
334, 253, 275, 339, 341, 351, 355, 
357, 371, 389 
President of Congress, 335 
Gen. Israel Putnam, 140, 141, 167 
Count Rochambeau, 365 
President Siles, Yale College, 
thanking him for degree of 
LL.D., 360 
Maj. Tallraadge, 279, 280 
Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, 369, 
371, 386 



INDEX 



595 



John Augustine Washington, 
192, 193 

Letters to General Washington 
from: 
Board General officers in High- 
lands, 362 
Gov. George Clinton, 116 
Abraham Davenport, 391 
Wm. Duer, 83 

Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, 163 
Col. Harrison, 77 
Gen. Wm. Heath, 83-4 
Chancellor Livingston, 166 
Gen. McDougall, 169 
General Parsons, 86, 87, 88, 90, 
90, 90, 92, 92, 93, 93, 94, 95, 97, 
100, 102, 105 ,105, 106, 135, 152, 
153, 156, 158, 164, 173, 185, 200, 
201, 208, 209-10, 222, 228, 230, 
231, 234, 236, 241, 242, 247, 249, 
252, 253, 274, 281, 284, 292, 294, 
296, 298, 302, 302, 307, 307-8, 
316, 317, 323, 326, 340, 341, 346, 
350, 354, 355, 357, 358, 359, 370, 
374, 390, 411, 414, 414, 418, 519 
General Israel Putnam, 113, 116- 

17, 122, 142, 236, 274 
Gen. Scott, 83 
Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, 89-90, 

372, 374, 378, 387 
Capt. Joseph Walker, Parsons' 
A. D. C, as to Parsons' illness, 
352 
Letters from: 

John Adams to Gen. Greene, 47 
Maj. Alden to Maj. Tallmadge, 

332 
Benedict Arnold (Gustavus) to 
John Andre (John Anderson), 
308 
Same to Col. Sheldon, 310 
Thomas Barnes to Gov. Clinton, 

174 
Gen. Burgoyne to Lord Geo. Ger- 
main, 68 
Gen. Richard Butler to Gen. 

Irvine, 575 
Same to Enoch Parsons, 577, 578, 

579-81 
Gov. George Clinton to N. Y. 
Convention, 79 



Same to Gen. Gates, 174 

Same to Gov. Trumbull, 170 

Sir Henry Clinton to Lord Geo. 

Germain, 269 
Committee of Conn, officers in 

N. Y. to Gov. Trumbull, 382-4 
Conn. Com. of Correspondence to 

John Hancock, 21, 22 
Manasseh Cutler to Nathan Dane, 

497 
Same to Winthrop Sargent, 496 
Col. Morris Graham to Gen. 

Gates, 174 
Alex. Hamilton to Gov. Clinton, 

211 

Col. Harrison to Gen. Greene, 

74-5 
Same to Gen. Heath, 77 
Capt. Jonathan Heart to Col. 

Jeremiah Wadsvvorth, 486 
Gen. Heath to Gen. Waterbury, 

406 
Wm. Heron to Maj. De Lan- 
cey, Adj. Gen. Br. Army, 431, 
436, 438, 439 
John Jay to Congress, 283 
Abr'm Leggett to Gov. Clinton, 

125 
Oliver Lawrence, Parsons' A. D. 

C. to Col. Gray, 351 
Gen. McDougall to Gov. Clinton, 

199 
Lieut. McDowell to Enoch Par- 
sons, 579 
Col. Oswald to Col. Lamb, 123 
Enoch Parsons to Wra. W. Par- 
sons, 555 
Same to his mother, 560 
Mehetable Parsons to Enoch Par- 
sons, 582 
Wm. Walter Parsons to Enoch 

Parsons, 581 
Elisha Rexford to Gov. Trumbull, 

352 
Lt. Hezekiah Rogers to Phebe 

Lane, 288 
Gen. St. Clair to Joshua Coit, 525 
Robert Troup to Gov. Clinton, 

174 
Col. Upham to Gen. Waterburv, 
403 



596 



INDEX 



Capt. Walker to Col. S. B. Webb, 

-281 
Maj. Wyllys to Col. S. B. Webb, 

353 

Lexington and Concord, 1 

Lincoln, Gen., 81, S-2, 366, 367, 389, 
413, 488 

Livingston, Chancellor, 166 

Livingston, Gov., 120 

Lloyds Neck, 244, 354, 396, 400, 403, 
404, 407 

Lockwood, Eliphalet, 300 

London's contribution to the Bos- 
ton poor, 17 

Long Island, Parson's expedition to, 
134 

Loring, Geo. B., 420 

Louisburg, capture of, 16 

Lovell, Mr., 241 

Lyme, Conn. 172 

Machin, Capt. Thomas,' 157 

Madison, James, 499 

Malcom, Col., 115, 185 

Map showing place of Parsons' 
death and burial, 570 

Marietta, 516; named for French 
Queen, 517; 4th July, 523; civil 
government organized, 523 ; 

treaty with Indians, 536; 

Thanksgiving proclaimed, 537 

Marquand, Capt., A. D. C. to Kny- 
phausen, 368 

Mather, Richard, 14 

Mather, Mehetable, 14 

Mather, Rev. Moses, 401 

Maxwell, Gen., 277 

May, Col. John, diary of, 520-22 

Mayflower or Adventure Galley, 
516 

McCurdy, Judge, 420 

McDougall, Gen. Alex., 43, 94, 101, 
167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172; 
opinion of Gen. Gates, 199; ex- 
perience with a Yankee division, 
200; 204, 206, 207, 228, 232, 234, 
249 

McDowell, Maj. Nathan, 522, 569, 
571-2, 579 

McVeigh, Wayne, 420 



Mead, Col., 233; disobedience of or- 
ders, 336 

Meeker, John, 277 

Meigs, Col. Return Jonathan; Sag 
Harbor expedition, 97; voted a 
sword by Congress, 99; 106, 134, 
135, 318, 561 

Memorial of the Ohio Co., pre- 
sented by Parsons, 499-501; 
Bancroft's description of its ef- 
fect on Congress, 498 

Middletown, Conn., 461 ; Cutler's 
description, 503 

Mifflin, Gen. Thomas, 58, 59, 63 

Miles, Col., 51, 53 

Military opinions of Parsons, given 
at the request of Washington, 
April, 1778, as to feasibility of 
attack on N. Y., 169; 196, 249; 
advises defence of Highlands and 
recovery of Stony Point. 260 

Montgomery, Gen. Richard, 33 

Monument to Parsons in Middle- 
town cemetery, 573-4; inscriptions 
on, 583-4 

Morris, Gouverneur, 211 

Morrisania, Parsons' expedition 
against, 327-335 

Morristown, 81, 272-3, 274, 318, 320 

Mott, Capt. Edward, 29 

Mumford, Thomas, 24, 26, 138, 139, 
185, 188, 189, 220, 256, 262, 287, 
450, 452, 453 

Murray, Mrs., entertains Gen. 
Howe while Putnam escapes, 65 

Nelson, Gen., 190 

New Brighton, 573-4; map of vici- 
nity, 570 

New Haven, 251, 255 

New Haven, Hartford and Middle- 
town, population in 1782, 461 

New London; alarm, 79, 223; forti- 
fications, 217-19 

Newtown Tories, 300 

New Windsor, Headquarters, July, 
1779, 249 

New York City; fortifications, 41-2; 
proposal to burn city when 
evacuated by Washington, 63; at- 
tempt on by Allied Armies, 366- 
7; reconnaisance in force, 389- 



INDEX 



597 



90; evacuated by British, Nov. 

25, 1783, 417 
New York, Western; Parsons' 

proposition to settle with his sol- 
diers, 2S2-3 
Nicholas, Robert Carter, 35 
Nixon, Gen., 43, 49, 250 
North, Lord; conciliatory bill, 178; 

fall of his ministry, 416 
Northwest Ter., organized Oct. 5, 

1787, 511 
Norwalk, Conn., 252, 255 
Norwalk Selectmen, as to Thos. 

Taylor, 349-50 

Ohio Company; organized March, 
1787, 496; Parsons elected direc- 
tor, 496; his memorial to Con- 
gress for sale of Ohio lands, 499; 
purchase eifected by Cutler, 511; 
settlement, 515-16; regarded as 
an event of national inportance, 
545; character of settlers, 495, 
517, 545; eminent men among the 
stockholders, 546; directors meet 
at Marietta, 521 

Ohio Company of 1748, builds fort 
at Pittsburgh, 15 , 

Ordinance of 1787, 505; delayed by 
the memorial of Ohio Co., till 
July 13, 1787, 506; Southern 
members opposed introduction of 
slavery, 507; John Randolph re- 
ports against permitting it in In- 
diana, 507; N. W. Ter. organized 
under it, Oct., 1787, 511; Par- 
sons' commission as Judge, 511 

Osborne, Thomas, a spy, 302-3 

Oswald, Lieut. Col., 123 

Oyster Bay, 89, 403 

Parsons, Enoch; returns with his 
father from Philadelphia, 555; 
appointed Reg. of Deeds and 
Clerk of Probate Court of Wash- 
ington Co., 559; his diary, 559; 
describes the first celebration of 
Independence in the N. W. Ter., 
560; Letters, 562, 568, 577, 578, 
579, 580 

Parsons, Rev. Jonathan, 8; marri- 
age, 8; character, 10; death, 11 



Parsons, Mrs. Mehetable (wife of 
the Gen.), 31, 82, 103, 192, 291, 
292, 315, 335, 520, 527, 533, 536, 
554, 556, 560, 562, 565, 567, 582 

Parsons, Gen. Samuel Holden, 1; 
birth and lineage, 8; graduates at 
Harvard and studies law, 13; his 
college mates, 13; marriage, 14; 
elected to Conn. Assembly, 18; 
King's atty. for New London Co., 
19; member Com. of Correspon- 
dence, 19; first to suggest a 
general congress of the Colonies, 
20; plans capture of Ticonderoga, 
24; Colonel of 6th Regt., 28; 
part of his Regt. engaged at 
Bunker Hill, 31; Col. of the new 
10th Regt., 37; Boston evacuated 
March, 1776, 38; commands three 
regiments on march to N. Y., 40; 
Brigadier General, August 9, 

1776, 43; ordered to Brooklyn, 
48; as brigadier of the day, opens 
the battle of Long Island, 51-53; 
exploits Bushnell's submarine 
torpedo boat, 60; afi'air at Kips 
Bay, 64; at Harlem Heights, 69; 
holds extreme left at White 
Plains, 74; reinforces Washing- 
ton in New Jersey, 78; commands 
the left of line in Heath's demon- 
stration against N. Y., 82; or- 
ganizes the Conn. Line for 1777, 
85; orders inoculation of troops, 
88; Meigs' expedition to Long 
Island, 97; in New Jersey in 

1777, 102; expedition against 
Setauket, 108; against Long Isl- 
and, 134; Clinton captures the 
forts in Highlands, 116; Parsons 
collects troops to oppose him, 117; 
Parsons-Tryoii correspondence, 
128-132, 258-9; in Nov. aids in 
movement against N. Y., 134; 
Feb., 1778, commands at West 
Point, 142; difficulties in con- 
structing the Works, 143-156; 
Washington suggests to him to 
capture Sir H. Clinton in N. Y., 
158-9; social life at the Point, 
161-166; Dwight's poem, 163; ad- 
vises against attack on N. Y, 



598 



INDEX 



168; in camp with Washington's 
armj^ at White Plains in 1778, 
189; winter quarters at Redding, 
204; commands at New London, 
Feb., 1779, 217; succeeds to per- 
manent command of Conn. Divi- 
sion, 244; at West Point, 246; 
in Conn, to oppose Tryon's raid, 
252; Dec, 1779 in winter quar- 
ters at Morristown with main 
army, 273; proposes to Gov. Clin- 
ton plan to settle Western N. Y. 
with his soldiers after the war, 
282; Parsons' estate, 291; call 
from Lafayette at Hartford, 296; 
Andre's court-martial, 306; his 
health, 315; leave of absence, 316; 
Major General, Oct. 23, 1780, 317; 
reorganizes the Conn. Line for 

1781, 318; Fairfield investigation, 
339-357; his serious illness, 352; 
Yale College confers on him a 
Master's degree, 360; army con- 
centrated at Peekskill, 364; com- 
mands the right of the first line 
in the demonstrations of the Al- 
lied Armies against New York, 
367; occupied the Heights at 
Kingsbridge, 368; spirited corres- 
pondence between Washington, 
Trumbull and Parsons as to the 
demands of the Conn. Division, 
370-78; in the Highlands during 
the Yorktown campaign, 394; 
urges capture of Lloyd's Neck, 
396; organizes the defence of 
Conn., 397; in April, 1782, his 
health compels him to retire from 
active service, 412; his discharge 
granted by Congress, July 22, 

1782, 416; removes his family to 
Middletown, Conn., 461 ; elected 
to Conn. Legislature, 462; Sept., 
1785, a commissioner to extin- 
guish Indian claims to land N. 
W. of the Ohio, 470; left home 
for the mouth of the Miami in 
Oct., 471; incidents of the jour- 
ney, 471-477; arrives at Fort Fin- 
ney, 477; treaty completed, 485; 
returns in March, 1786, 489; or- 
ganization of Ohio Company, 496; 



elected director, 496; his me- 
morial to Congress for sale of 
land to Co., 498; effect of, 498- 
9; sale concluded in July fol- 
lowing, 509; N; W. Ter. organ- 
ized in Oct., St. Clair Governor 
and Parsons first judge, 511; 
both reappointed by Washington 
upon organization of Fed. Govt., 
563; Jan., 1788, member of Conn. 
Convention to ratify Fed. Const., 
512; settlement of Ohio begins in 
spring of 1788, 515-16; arrives at 
Marietta, Maj% 1788, 520; code 
of laws for the Ter. prepared by 
Gov. and Judges, 524; Cutler's 
visit to Marietta and diary, 531-3; 
Parsons preaches a Thanksgiving 
sermon, the first in the Ter., 
537-542; visits Philadelphia, 554; 
appointed by Conn, commissioner 
to treat with Indians on the Re- 
serve, 565; forms syndicate to 
purchase 24,000 acres in the Re- 
serve, 549; returning from a visit 
to his purchase, Nov. 17, 1789, at- 
tempting to shoot the rapids of 
the Big Beaver, his canoe was 
wrecked, and both he and a man 
with him were drowned, 570; 
map of vicinity of the accident, 
570; the inscriptions on his 
monument at Middletown, 583-4; 
a fac-simile of his signature, 
454; his children, 583; his charac- 
ter, his public services, the esti- 
mate in which he was held, 584- 
5-6-7 

Parsons, Wm. Walter (Midship- 
man Billy, 284), 32, 192, 266, 
284, 287, 288, 292, 471, 555, 582 

Parsons, Thomas, 80 

Patterson, Gen., 361 

Payne, Benjamin, 19 

Peabody, Rev. Dr., 420 

Peekskill, rendezvous for troops, 
1777, 101; 364 

Pennsylvania Line, mutiny of, 320, 
323" 

Penobscott expedition, 266 

Phelps, Noah, 24 

Phillips Manor, 127 



INDEX 



599 



Pitkin, Martha, 10 

Pitkin, Wra., 10 

Pitt, William, 16 

Pittsburgh, 476 

Prentice, Maj. Samuel, 3S 

Prescott, Col., Wm., 30, 31 

Private warfare, 2i3-i 

Purchase Road, 74 

Putnam, Capt. Ezra, 515 

Putnam, Gen. Israel, 1, 4, 5; Major 
Gen., 33; 51, 108, 113, 114, 115, 
116, 120, U-2, 124, 127, 133, 134, 
140, 141, 142, 142, 166, 167, 194, 
204, 212, 213, 2-26, 236, 244, 273 4 

Putnam, Gen. Rufus, 515, 517, 523, 
526, 531, 545 

Quaker Hill, engagement at, 192 

Rail, Col., 72 

Redding Ridge, 204 

Reed, James B- 43 , 

Rexford, Elisha. 352, 353 

Robertson dispatch, 312 

Rochambeau, Count de, 296, 364, 

365, 366, 391-2 
Rogers, Lieut. Hezekiah, 288 
Romaine, Bernard, 24 
Rowland, Uriah, 356, 359 
Root, Col., 265-7 
Rum, an indispensable article, 205, 

246 
Rye Affair, 75 
Rye Pond, 74 

Sag Harbor, Meigs' expedition to, 
97 

St. Clair, Gen. Arthur, 43, 273; 
reception at Marietta, 523-25; re- 
appointed Governor by Washing- 
ton, 563; 522, 552; his Thanks- 
giving proclamation, 537 

St. John, Stephen, 401 

St. Mary's Pond, 72; affair at, 74 

Saltonstall, Gurdon, 28 

Salt Springs of the Mahoning, 560, 
567 

Sargent, Winthrop, 496, 523, 563 

Saw Pitts (Port Chester), 74, 77, 
110 

Scammel, Col., 327 



Schuyler, Gen. Phillip; Maj. Gen., 
33 

Scott, Gen. John Morin, 63, 82, 
83 

Secret Service Record of Sir H. 
Clinton, 423-4 

Senecas, home of the, 260 

Setauket, Parsons' expedition to, 
108-110 

Settlement of unoccupied lands in 
the West, 546 

Shawanese Indians, 478 

Shay's rebellion, 468; described by 
Parsons, 468-9 

Sheldon, Col., 85, 302, 310, 366, 405 

Sherman, Roger, 18, 23, 548 

Sherman, Gen. W. T., Loring's 
pamphlet dedicated to, 421 

Sherman, Col., 318, 327 

Signature, fac-simile of Parsons', 
454 

Silliman, Gen. Ebenezer, 19, 59, 93, 
230, 285 

Smallwood, Gen., 314 

Smiths Clove, 77, 249 

Society of the Cincinnati; institu- 
ted in the Highlands, May 13, 
1783; basic principles, deemed 
anti-republican, 463-4 

Sound, Long Island, those living 
near in fear of attack, 391 

Southampton, 223 

Spencer, Gen. Joseph, 1, 4, 33, 34, 
39, 41 

Sproat, Col. Ebenezer, 515 

Sproat, Mr., Com. Gen. of Priso- 
ners, 289 

Spy System of the Revolution, 274- 
281 

States composing X. W. Ter., 524 

Steuben Baron; compliments Conn, 
troops, 270 

Stiles, Brest. Yale Col., 360 

Stirling, Gen. Lord Wm. Alexan- 
der, 41, 42, 49, 51, 52, 53; in New 
Jersey, 78, 194 

Stony Point, 247, 249, 259, 269 

Strang, Joseph, 144 

Strike of artificers at West Point, 
149 

Strong, Jedediah, 18 

Sullivan, Gen. John, 33, 39, 41, 48, 



600 



INDEX 



192; expedition against the 

Senecas, 259-60 
Sumrill's Ferry, 515-16 
Swift, Col., 4, 318 
Symmes, John Cleves, Judge N. W. 

Ter., 563 
Syndicate to purchase land in Conn. 

Reserve, 549-52 

Tallmadge, Maj. Benj., 279, 280, 
305, 332, 404, 407-8 

Taylor, Thomas, of Norwalk, 349- 
50 

Ternay, Admiral, 296 

Thomas, Gen. John, 33, 34 

Ticonderoga, facts as to expedi- 
tion against in 1775, 24; capture, 
25; its great value, 27 

Treaty of Fort Stanwix, Oct. 22, 
1784; of Fort Mcintosh, Jan. 21, 
1785; territory ceded by, 482; of 
Fort Finney, Feb. 1, 1786, 482- 
486; territory ceded l)y, 485; Par- 
sons' address and terms of treaty, 
477-85; of Fort Harmar in Jan. 
1788, 536-7 

Trenton and Princeton, battles of, 
80-81 

Troup, Robert, Gates' A. D. C, 174 

Trumbull, Gov. Jonathan, 1, 90, 117, 
118, 119, 123, 159, 170, 217, 220, 
221, 222, 227, 228, 239, 299 319, 
324, 325, 336, 337, 341-343, 345, 
352, 369, 371, 372, 374, 375, 376, 
377, 378, 380, 382-4, 386, 387, 388, 
397, 398, 399, 402, 407, 409, 431 

Trumbull Joseph, 19, 22, 24 

Trumbull, Rev. Mr., 300 

Tryon, raid on Danbury, 93; burns 
E. Haven, Fairfield and Nor- 
walk, 251; property destroyed, 
255; burns Continental Village 
122; Phillips Manor, 127 

Tupper, Gen. Benj., 526 

Tj'ler, Col. John, 28 

Upham, Col., Br. Com. of Priso- 
ners, 400, 403 

Valley Forge, winter of 1777-8, 160 
Van Cortlandt Manor House, 368 
Varnum, Judge James M., arrives 



at Marietta, 521 ; delivers Fourth 
July address, 523; assists in mak- 
ing code of laws, 524-5; death, 
Jan. 10, 1789, 544 

Vaughn's, Gen., expedition up the 
Hudson to relieve Burgovne, 121, 
122 

Verplancks Point, 116, 123, 247, 
249, 269 

Vigo, Francis, Indian trader, 532 

Virginia accounts, 487-8 

A''irginia House of Burgesses, reso- 
lution of, 19 

Wadsworth, Col. Jeremiah, 161, 175, 
321, 322, 471, 486 

Waite, Lieut. Daniel, 89 

Wales, Nathaniel, 19 

Walker, Capt. Joseph, 339; Par- 
sons recommends him to Gen. 
Gates, 411; 281, 352 

Walter, Rev. Dr. Wm.; notable 
letter from Parsons, 179-184; 192, 
285, 314, 354, 462-3 

Ward, Gen. Artemas, 33, 34, 37 

Washington, George; elected gene- 
ral, June 15, 1775; assumes com- 
mand July 2; reports situation 
of the army, 33; fortifies Dor- 
chester Heights, 38; Boston evac- 
uated, the army ordered to N. Y., 
39; fortifies N. Y. and Brooklyn 
Heights, 41; battle of Long Isl- 
and, retreat to N. Y., and to 
White Plains, 50-73; campaign of 
1777 in New Jersey, 100-112; July, 
1778, entire army at White Plains, 
189; his method of espionage, 
275-280; Arnold's treason, 304- 
14; meets Rochambeau, 304; the 
N. Y. and Yorktown compaigns, 
364-93; his scheme of slack water 
navigation for the Potomac, 520; 
election and inauguration as 
President, 513; writes to 

Lafayette of Parsons and others 
proposing to settle in Ohio, 546 

Washington County organized and 
County Court opened, 526 

Waterbury, Gen. David, 1, 366, 390, 
403, 405, 406 



INDEX 



601 



Wayne, Gen. Anthony; captures 
Stony Point, 259 

Webb, Col. Chas., 2, 26, 106 

Webb, Col. Samuel B., 105, 108, 109, 
110, 124, 134, 136, 138, 178, 179, 
281, 318, 338 360 

West Point, 106; Parsons in com- 
mand, 142; description of, 161-2; 
social life at, 165; 246, 318 

Whale boats concealed in inlets on 
tiie Sound from Rye to Nor- 
walk, 110 

White, Maj. Haffield, 515 

Whitefield, Rev. Geo.; buried be- 
neath Rev. Jonathan Parsons' 
pulpit, 11 

W^hite Plains, great encampment at 
in 1778, 189 

Williard, Prest. Harvard Coll.; Par- 
sons send him account of his 
discoveries in the West, 489-495 

Williams, Rev. Elisha, 8 



Williams, Wm., 18, 19 

Wilson, Wm., Indian trader, 571 

Wilton, 216, 253, 254 

Windham, Co. Conn., its original 

financial scheme, 468 
Wolcott, Gen. Erastus, 10, 23 
Wolcott, Henry, 9 
Wolcott, Gen. Oliver, 10, 565-6 
Wolcott, Roger, 10 
Wolcott, Ursula, 10 
Woodward, Hon. J. G., 459 
Wooster, Gen. David, 1, 4, 33, 77, 

82; killed, 93 
Wyllys, Col. Samuel, 24, 26, 37, 

48, 106, 318 
Wyllys, Major, 352 
Wyoming District in Pa. claimed 

by Conn., 18, 19, 326 

Yale College, 6; May, 1781, con- 
fers honorary degrees on Wash- 
ington and Parsons, 360 



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